A Reason to Live
by Joe's girl
Summary: Michelle's gone. Does Tony have a reason to live? Jack, Bill Chloe, Curtis, Audrey all team up to make sure that he does.
1. Chapter 1

_Just a little something that I thought up while rewatching a couple of episodes of season 5. Assume that it follows the storyline until a few minutes after 5:00pm when my story takes a right turn into the AU. Hope you enjoy. Please review and tell me what you think._

_I guess I have to put in the usual disclaimer. All of the 24 characters belong to Fox and not to me. If they belonged to me, I would have been at the Emmy Awards and you would have seen me on stage standing between Kiefer and Carlos!_

A REASON TO LIVE

Chapter 1:

It was now 5pm and Bill Buchanan's day had started before 7 o'clock when he arrived at CTU. He had just poured his first cup of coffee when the news came in that David Palmer had been assassinated. He knew at that moment that it wasn't likely that he would leave the building for at least the next 24 hours, but in his wildest dreams, he had never imagined that the day would turn out like this.

He ran his hand through his prematurely gray hair and tucked his reading glasses into his breast pocket as he rounded the corner and headed into the medical unit.

"How long has he been conscious?" Bill asked the doctor.

"Ten minutes," the doctor replied. "Before you go in you should be aware of something. Tony's been asking for his wife."

"He doesn't remember?" Bill asked. Neighbors who witnessed the explosion confirmed that Tony was cradling Michelle in his arms prior to the second explosion. The position in which police and paramedics found the two of them, his body on top of hers, effectively protecting her from the second explosion, indicated that Michelle died in the first explosion and Tony knew she as dead when he found her.

"He remembers the explosion but that's all," the doctor confirmed.

"We have to tell him Michelle's dead."

"No, absolutely not," the doctor replied emphatically. "He's undergone severe trauma. This kind of stress will raise his blood pressure and make the vascular damage worse. Please hold off on telling him until his condition's stabilized."

Bill didn't like the idea of lying to Tony. He didn't relish the idea of telling him the truth either, but lying to him was wrong. On top of that, Bill wasn't sure how convincingly he could lie to Tony. His own grief over Michelle's death had a strong hold on him. Michelle may have gone back to Tony, but Bill had never really stopped loving her. He was realistic, of course, and understood that Michelle loved another man, but that wasn't enough to make him stop loving her. Now he had to go and talk to Tony, the man who held such a grip on Michelle's heart. Bill knew how much it hurt to lose Michelle and she hadn't even been his. He couldn't imagine how hard this was going to be on Tony. The events of the day had required that Bill keep his feelings and his grief buried in order that he could stay focused, but he was afraid that seeing Tony was going to allow it to bubble to the surface and he would be unable to hide it from Tony.

Bill neared Tony's bed trying to figure out what he was going to say. He could see that Tony was awake and watching his approach. Bill took a deep breath and pressed forward.

"Tony, how're you feeling?"

Tony ignored the question. "They told me they took Michelle to Cedars."

"They couldn't treat her here," Bill said softly. He was instantly sorry that he had said it. The statement implied that Michelle was so badly hurt that it was beyond the capability of the trauma surgeon at CTU.

"Why? How badly was she hurt? Is she going to be alright?" Bill could hear the panic rising in Tony's voice.

"Yes, as far as I know," Bill assured him, making every attempt to keep Tony calm.

"Where's Lilliana? Who has Lily? Is she safe?"

"Who's Lily?" Bill asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Our daughter," Tony explained. The fact that Bill obviously knew nothing about the baby's whereabouts created even more panic. He struggled to sit up.

"Your daughter?" Bill said incredulously. "I didn't know that you and Michelle had any children."

"She's eight months old. Where is she, Bill?"

"The police didn't say anything about a baby," Bill answered. This conversation was going from bad to worse. First, Bill had to try and hide the fact that Michelle was dead and now he finds out that there was a baby in the house that, as far as he knew at the moment, was unaccounted for. "Where was she when the explosion occurred?"

"In the nursery. The room's in the rear of the house. There shouldn't have been any damage to it in the explosion. She was with a baby sitter. Michelle and I had a meeting to go to, so Michelle got a neighbor, Rachel Plummer, to watch her for the morning."

"Tony, I don't know anything about the baby or Rachel Plummer. Let me call LAPD and find out what happened. I suspect that the police have the baby in protective custody. Since it was obvious from the start that this was an attempt on your life and Michelle's life, they probably thought the baby was safer in police custody."

"Wouldn't they have told you that?" Tony asked.

"There was a lot of confusion when LAPD first called us, Tony, both here and at your house. President Palmer had just been killed and we had to arrange to transport you here. I guess they just forgot to tell us about the baby," Bill replied. That seemed like a reasonable answer even to Bill, but he wasn't sure that Tony bought it.

"Do me a favor, Bill, and call them right now. I need to know that Lily's safe."

"Of course, Tony. I'll let you know as soon as I find something out. Try and get some rest. We need you to get better," Bill told him as he gently squeezed Tony's shoulder.

Bill left medical and pulled out his phone. "Chris, get LAPD on the phone. I need to talk to Lieutenant Templeton from Homicide immediately."

"Yes, Mr. Buchanan," she answered.

Bill returned to the floor where he found Audrey and Chloe reviewing some information on the computer. They both looked up.

"How's Tony?" Audrey asked.

"He'll be okay," Bill answered. "Chloe, why didn't you mention that Tony and Michelle had a baby?"

Chloe looked surprised. "Because I didn't know. When did they have a baby?"

"They have an eight month old daughter. They didn't tell you?"

"After we helped Jack escape, we covered up our tracks so that there was no evidence that he was still alive. We thought it was best if we didn't have any communication between us. So I haven't talked to either Tony or Michelle in 18 months. I did check the vital statistics database a couple of months later because I was curious to see if they'd gotten remarried. I found that they had and I left it at that. I didn't even know where they were living."

"Who has the baby now?" Audrey asked.

"That's the problem, the police never mentioned a baby to me."

"Was she in the car?" Chloe asked imagining the worst.

"According to Tony she was in the house, in the nursery with a baby sitter."

"Do you think the baby sitter still has her?" Audrey queried.

"I don't know what to think. I've got a call in to Lt. Templeton," Bill said shaking his head.

"How is Tony holding up? He must be going crazy not knowing where his daughter is after just losing Michelle," Audrey said. She didn't know Tony very well, but she had a soft spot in her heart for him. He had saved her life, and Jack's as well, when they were pinned down by gunmen 18 months earlier. She had never forgotten that.

"He doesn't know about Michelle. He thinks she's being treated elsewhere. The doctor thinks it's best to keep it from him for now."

"Bill, that doesn't seem right," Audrey protested. "He eventually has to be told and he's going to be even angrier when he finds out."

"I agree, but this is the doctor's call, Audrey. I have enough on my plate at the moment. I don't have the time to waste arguing with him right now."

Audrey wanted to discuss it further, but could hear the exasperation in Bill's voice and decided that he was right. It was not a point worth arguing. They needed to find the nerve gas and they needed to do it soon.

As if in answer to his prayers, Bill's phone rang. "Mr. Buchanan, I have Lt. Templeton on the line."

"Thank you, Chris. Put him through." Bill paused while Chris transferred the call. "Lt. Templeton, Tony Almeida just regained consciousness."

"Good," Templeton replied. "Has he given you a statement yet?"

"Not yet, he's not quite ready for that, Lieutenant. He indicated that his baby daughter was in the house at the time of the explosion."

"She was," Templeton agreed. "Along with a baby sitter."

"Why didn't you mention this before, Lieutenant? Where is the child now?"

"I'm sure I wouldn't know, Mr. Buchanan. You're people took her from us early this morning."

"My people?" Bill asked "What do you mean 'my people'?"

"Three CTU agents at the scene told me that since Mr. Almeida was being transported to your facility, you wanted to have the baby there as well."

"Lieutenant, I didn't have any agents at the scene. We were up to our neck in alligators with the Palmer assassination. That's why I left the investigation at the Almeida's house up to LAPD. I only transported Tony to CTU so that we could adequately protect him," Bill's normally controlled and mild tone was gone. His exasperation and frustration were taking over.

The lieutenant was quick to defend himself. "The agents had valid CTU identification and the appropriate paperwork to transfer the custody of a minor to another agency. We didn't just hand the child over to them without looking into it."

"I'm sorry," Bill said realizing that his approach was getting him nowhere. "I didn't mean to imply that you did. Is it possible that the agents who took the child weren't with CTU, but were with another agency? Social services, perhaps?"

"No, Mr. Buchanan, there were three agents, two men and a woman. The men both wore CTU windbreakers. The woman was the ranking officer. She gave her credentials to me and said that she was there to transport the child back to CTU for protection. They were driving a black SUV with federal government license plates."

"Can you give me a description of the agents?"

"Not a good one. I have to admit that I was busy at the time and, frankly, getting the baby away from the scene and into some place safe was one less thing I had to worry about. I was grateful to have someone to take her. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the agents besides establishing their credentials. Apparently I didn't do a very good job with that either."

"Don't beat yourself up, Lieutenant," Bill said suddenly softening. "It's been a difficult day. Did anyone else have contact with these 'agents' that might be able to describe them?"

"The baby sitter and her mother. The last name is 'Plummer'. They were very helpful in working with the people we thought were agents to pack up clothes and diapers and all of the other things you need for a baby. I'm sure they could give us a description. I'll send two officers over to interview them."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. We need to put an APB out on the baby and the kidnappers," Bill said.

Lt. Templeton agreed. "I can give you a reasonable description of the baby but it would be helpful if we could get pictures."

"I'll talk to Tony and have someone get back to you in a few minutes," Bill told him before they disconnected.

"That didn't sound good," Audrey commented.

"It isn't. Someone impersonating CTU agents took the baby. They had all of the appropriate paperwork. Chloe," Bill said looking in her direction, "I need pictures of Lily Almeida. Is there any chance that you can hack into Tony and Michelle's computer and see if they've stored any pictures there?"

"I can try, but it's not likely. Tony and Michelle knew more about computer security than almost anyone I know, other than me, of course. It could take me hours to hack into Tony's computer. Can't you just ask him for his password so we can get in without a delay?"

Bill sighed. "I can but I was hoping that I wouldn't have to. If I ask for a picture of her I have to admit to him that she's missing. I was hoping to avoid that until we had a better idea of who has her and why."

"Bill, none of this is pleasant," Audrey noted, "but Tony has to know. His daughter's been kidnapped and his wife is dead. You can't hide these things from him forever."

Bill snapped uncharacteristically, his voice louder than necessary, "I'm well aware of that, Audrey!"

Chloe interrupted breaking the tension. "Mr. Buchanan, I have Jack on line two."

Bill sighed and opened line two. "Go ahead, Jack. You're on speaker."

"Bill, I've got a lead on the nerve gas," Jack proceeded to tell him about Christopher Henderson.

Bill listened and gave Jack the go ahead to follow up on the lead, though as he did so he knew that "giving Jack the go ahead" was a mere formality. Jack made it clear hours ago that he didn't work for CTU. He was going after Henderson with or without Bill's blessing.

"Jack, there's one more thing," Bill said.

"What's that?"

"Tony regained consciousness a little while ago."

"Good. How's he doing?"

"He'll be fine, but he told us something disturbing. He and Michelle have an eight month old baby girl who was in the house at the time of the explosion. According to LAPD, she wasn't hurt in the explosion, but they turned her over to three people who carried official looking CTU documentation, but there weren't ours. We have no idea who they were or where the baby is."

"Oh my God!" Jack gasped. The news hit him like a wave on the beach. He stopped walking and leaned against a nearby wall. He knew all too well what Tony was going through. Having his daughter kidnapped was probably the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to him. "Do you have any leads?"

"No, none."

"So the kidnappers haven't made any attempt to contact CTU or LAPD?"

"Not yet," Bill replied.

"They obviously took her for a reason. It doesn't make sense that they took her just to kill her. Why go to all of the bother to get the identification and documentation if they just want to kill her? We're going to hear from them."

"I know," Bill agreed. "It's just a matter of when and what kind of demands they make."

"Who do you have assigned to work on this?" Jack asked.

"LAPD is taking the lead. They put out an APB and they're interviewing witnesses."

"CTU needs to take the lead on the investigation, Bill. All of this has happened because of Tony and Michelle's ties to CTU. CTU needs to take the lead."

"Look, Jack, in principle I agree with you, but I've got 18 missing canisters of nerve gas that I have to find. I can't devote resources to finding one baby in a city of 3.5 million people. My responsibility, first and foremost, is to protect as many people as I possibly can. I sympathize with Tony, believe me I do. His child's missing; I want to put her back in his arms as much as you do, but right now, I have to worry about the greater good."

Jack knew that Bill was right but that didn't make the answer any easier to hear.

"How is Tony holding up? I know he's devastated."

"He doesn't know that Michelle is dead and we just discovered that the baby's missing, so at the moment he's in the dark. I'm going to have to tell him soon. He's already questioning the excuses we've given him about having Michelle treated elsewhere. He's not going to buy this much longer."

"He needs to know the truth, Bill. However painful it is, he's better off knowing. Believe me, I've been there. He's going to fall apart, but he has to know. He's going to hate everyone for keeping it from him. George Mason did that to me when Kim and Teri were in the safe house and it was attacked. He refused to tell me the truth. I never really forgave him for that."

"Again, I'm with you, Jack, but the circumstances were different. You were in a position to help get Kim and Teri back. Tony isn't. His condition is barely stable."

"It doesn't matter, Bill. Yes, you're right, he isn't in a position to go track down the kidnappers, but he might know something or have some information that will help us. Bill, you have to tell him." Jack paused for a moment; he knew that he had to focus. "Look, I'm approaching Henderson's location now. I've got to figure out how I'm going to get inside without looking suspicious. I'll call you as soon as I can."

"Be careful," Bill warned him as their connection was broken. He sighed as he pocketed his phone.

The stress and emotion of the day was getting to him and he didn't know how much more he could take. Some days it wasn't worth what he was paid to be in charge and this was one of them. So many things had to be done before he could go home again. He listed them in his head and tried to sort out the priorities: the nerve gas had to be found and neutralized before thousands or maybe, millions of people died, David Palmer's assassin had to be apprehended, Walt Cummings' contacts had to be ferreted out…

The list went on and on and, somewhere at the end of it, Lily Almeida had to be rescued and returned to her father. Bill couldn't stand the fact that finding an 8 month old baby was at the end of his list of priorities. He wanted nothing more that to abandon all other protocols and put all of his resources into finding this innocent, and now motherless, child and putting her back into her father's arms.

Bill turned and walked toward medical. He needed to talk to Tony. He had to tell him that Lily was missing. As painful as it would be, Tony needed to know and Bill needed a physical description of the baby and pictures of her for the police.

The medical unit was much like the rest of CTU: lots of glass doors and interior windows to make it look more open and welcoming but in reality, it was not much more than a gray, concrete warehouse. Bill stepped inside and stopped to talk to the nurse at the desk.

"How's Tony doing?" he asked.

"He seems to be resting comfortably," she told him. "I was in to check on him not long ago."

"Is he asking about his wife or his daughter?"

"No, not a word. He just laid there and let me take his vitals. The doctor was in with him a couple of minutes ago, too. Tony asked about his wife and the doctor told him that he didn't have any new information. Tony accepted that."

Bill frowned. That didn't sound right. He didn't know Tony all that well, but he couldn't imagine Tony just lying in bed waiting for someone to tell him what was happening. The Tony he knew should be asking questions and demanding answers.

Bill opened the door that led to Tony's room and gasped when he saw Tony out of bed and standing in front of a computer. "Tony," he said, but he stopped. There was nothing he could do. Tony had put Michelle's name in the computer to search for her status.

The doctor came in at nearly the same moment. "Tony, you need to go back to bed," he told him.

"Get away from me," Tony shouted as he pushed the doctor away and turned back to the computer monitor. His soulful brown eyes watched as the computer confirmed his fears. Michelle was dead. Pictures of the burning car and of Michelle lying among the debris flashed onto the screen.

Tony could say nothing. He slowly shook his head as the reality of the situation sunk in. His knees gave way and Bill and the doctor rushed to his sides to give support. Other employees from the medical unit arrived in seconds and Bill let them take over. He watched as they nearly carried Tony back to bed. He cried Michelle's name and pitifully begged those around him to tell him that it wasn't true. Bill felt tears burn his own eyes and he blinked hard to maintain control.

"He needs to be sedated," Bill heard the doctor shout. "Give him Ativan 2mg IM now!"

A nurse ran passed Bill to retrieve the sedative bringing him back to reality.

"Before you sedate him I need to talk to him," Bill said to the doctor.

"No! He needs to be sedated now!" the doctor returned emphatically.

"You don't understand," Bill said in a tone that clearly told the doctor that he was pulling rank on him. "His daughter has been kidnapped. We need information from Tony to help us in our investigation. Without that information we may not find her until it's too late. Tell me, Doctor, do you want to be the one who has to tell Tony Almeida that his daughter is dead, too?"

"I'll give you five minutes, then I'm sedating him regardless of what you want or how crucial his information is."

"Thank you," Bill said quietly. "Five minutes is all I'll need."

Bill walked slowly into Tony's room not sure what to say to him. Tony was lying on the bed, curled on his side. His face was buried in the pillow as he cried helplessly. Bill put his hand on Tony's shoulder and leaned in close.

"I'm so sorry, Tony. I don't know what else to say. I wanted to tell you earlier but the doctor felt it was better for your condition to wait for a while. I'm so sorry." It all sounded so hollow to Bill but he didn't know what else to say.

"Where's Lily," Tony sobbed. "Is she dead, too?"

"She wasn't hurt in the explosion," Bill told him.

"Where is she now?"

Bill paused for a moment and then spoke. "We don't know. Someone claiming to be from CTU took her from the scene."

Tony struggled to sit up. He was frantic. "What? Are you telling me that my daughter's been kidnapped? Do you have any leads? Have they had any contact with CTU? Who's doing this, Bill? Why are they after my family?"

Bill held Tony's shoulders trying hard to keep him from getting out of bed. "Tony, you have to stay calm. I know how hard that is, but if you don't, the doctor is going to sedate you and right now, we need your help to try and find your daughter."

Tony nodded and stopped struggling. "Please, don't let him sedate me. I need to know what's going on. I have to have my daughter back, Bill. Please, get her back for me," he begged.

"We're doing everything we can. We have to assume that the kidnappers took Lily for a reason. If they wanted to kill her, they would have found an easier way to do it. They're going to contact us at some point and we have to be ready. We need pictures of her. If you give me your computer password, Chloe can get into your computer and retrieve pictures."

Tony nodded again and reached for a pad of paper on a bedside table. He wrote down several series of letters and numbers and handed it to Bill. "That should get Chloe into my computer. The folder names are there, too. She'll find dozens of pictures of Lily, some as recent as last week."

"Thanks," Bill said quietly. "Now try and get some rest. I'll make sure you know the minute we get any information." Bill turned to leave the medical unit.

"Bill," Tony called after him. "Look, I've run this place. I know how it works. You've got a lot on your plate right now and in the scheme of things an eight month old baby doesn't mean a whole lot when there are thousands or even millions of lives on the line. I know that finding Lily is a low priority, but please remember that she's all I've got in the world right now. At one point or another, I've given up everything for this country. A few years ago I even gave up my freedom just to save Michelle's life. Now she's gone, too. I've got to get my baby back. Please find a way to devote some resources to finding her. Without Lily," Tony shook his head as tears again filled his already bloodshot eyes. "Without Lily I've got no reason to live."

"Believe me, Tony, I'll do everything in my power to make sure that we find your daughter. I give you my word," Bill said sincerely. He and Tony locked gazes for a moment before Bill turned and went out the door.

He had made Tony a promise that he intended to keep. He wasn't sure how or where he was going to find any spare resources, but he was going to have to do it. Ideas of how to shift manpower to the kidnapping investigation began taking shape as Bill saw Chloe rush around the corner toward him.

"Mr. Buchanan! I just got off the phone with Lt. Templeton. LAPD homicide just got to the scene of what looks like an execution down near the port. They've got three bodies, all bound and gagged, each with two close range gunshots to the back of the head," she told him breathlessly.

"I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm not sure why this is relevant right now. It sounds like it's LAPD's problem, not mine," Bill said.

Chloe stopped walking. Bill was forced to stop and wait for her to continue the story. "The three bodies match the description of the three people dressed as CTU agents who took Lily Almeida away from Tony and Michelle's house. According to the medical examiner, they've been dead for several hours."

"Is there any sign of the baby?"

"None. The police are searching the area, but so far nothing."

"So, it looks like whoever took Lily wants her alive, at least for now, but he wanted to make sure that no one was left to give him up."

"Yeah," Chloe agreed, "it looks like he wanted to tie up any loose ends."

"Do they have IDs yet on the bodies?"

"They've ID'd two of them: the woman and one of the men. They're known petty criminals. Lots of arrests for dealing small amounts of drugs or weapons violations. Nothing as big as kidnapping."

"They got in over their head this time. Somebody must have been offering them a big payday to do this job. They probably thought they'd hit the big time," Bill sighed and massaged his forehead with his fingertips for a moment as reality settled over him like a blanket. He looked at Chloe with eyes that she could only describe as sad and he spoke quietly. "We just lost our biggest lead."


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note: Just a reminder that after the first couple of paragraphs of the first chapter, this story went AU. Nothing else that happened in season 5 is relevant. From here on I take the story where I want it to go, not where the writers wanted it to go._

Chapter 2:

Jack sat sideways on the driver's seat of his CTU issued SUV, his legs hanging out of the open car door. He closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. Exhaustion had set in. It was just after 8 pm and the sun had set. All he wanted to do was to go back to Diane's house and crawl into the bed in his rented room and pretend that the entire day was a dream. No, correct that, a nightmare. He wanted to pretend that his one-time friend and mentor Christopher Henderson was not responsible for the death of David Palmer and the plan to kill millions with nerve gas. He wanted to pretend that David Palmer was alive and well. He wanted to pretend that Michelle and Tony were safe and living happily in The Valley with their baby daughter. He wanted to pretend that he was still Frank Flynn, oil rigger, and that Diane Huxley was still his girlfriend. He no longer wanted to be Jack Bauer. In many ways he hated Jack Bauer and all that he stood for.

If there was one positive point, it was that the nerve gas threat was over, or soon would be. It hadn't been easy, but he broke Christopher Henderson and Henderson gave up the location of the nerve gas canisters and the names of the co-conspirators. Curtis had a hazmat team on the way to secure the nerve gas and other teams had been deployed to arrest the perpetrators. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, in order to get all of the information from Henderson, Jack had pushed Henderson hard. Too hard. Whether his heart gave out or he blew a blood vessel in his brain wouldn't be known until the autopsy was complete, but either way, Henderson was dead and it was Jack's responsibility. He knew that he would have to answer for that but was relatively certain that Buchanan would back him up. Unlike previous CTU directors, who would have given Jack up in a heartbeat, Jack and Bill were on the same page, cut from the same mold. Oh, to be sure, Bill's mold had smoother edges and their methods were different, but they both had the same goal.

Jack's phone rang bringing him out of his reverie. "Bauer," he said as he flipped the phone open.

"Jack, it's Wayne Palmer,"

"Mr. Palmer, what can I do for you, sir," Jack said respectfully.

"Jack, I need to see you," Palmer said. His voice was anxious; he sounded almost short of breath. Jack could hear the pain and grief and emotion in every word he spoke.

"Is everything alright?"

"No, I need to see you. I came across some information on David's computer that you need to see. I know why he was killed."

"We already have that information. Christopher Henderson gave it to me before he died. President Palmer stumbled onto Henderson's plan to steal the nerve gas and Henderson killed your brother to keep him quiet."

"There's more to it than that, Jack," Palmer told him.

"What else? What other information do you have?"

"I can't tell you over the phone. It's not a secure line. You need to come over to my place and see it yourself," he insisted. "And Jack, don't tell anyone where you're going. Right now I'm not sure who we can trust." With that, Wayne Palmer hung up.

Jack held the phone to his ear for another second or two as if the line was going to open up spontaneously and Wayne Palmer was going to give him a better explanation, but when it didn't happen, Jack again closed the phone and threw it on the passenger seat. He turned his body so that he was sitting facing forward in the driver's seat and pulled the door closed. He sighed as he started the SUV and put it into gear sure that this was going to be a wasted trip. Wayne Palmer was grief stricken and seeing conspiracies everywhere. Christopher Henderson had no reason to lie. He was dying and he knew it. Why would he have used his last bit of energy to make up the story? No, Jack doubted that Wayne Palmer any information that he hadn't already ripped from Henderson, but he would go to see him out of simple respect for his friend, David Palmer.

Jack pulled onto the highway and mentally calculated the mileage to Wayne Palmer's condominium; the site where his older brother was fatally shot just thirteen hours earlier. It would take him at least thirty minutes. He would have to spend another half hour or so looking at Wayne's "information" before he drove another thirty minutes back to CTU. All in all he expected not to make it back to CTU for at least and hour and a half. He reached for the phone again to call Bill and let him know. That was another hour and a half before he could get any word on the search for Tony's daughter and begin to help. It was an hour and a half that he didn't want to waste.

"Buchanan," answered the weary voice on the other end.

"Bill, it's Jack. I'm going to be a while getting back to CTU."

"Why? I thought you were on your way. We have a lot to do here, Jack. I know you don't work for CTU, but I was hoping that for Tony's sake that you would help us with the investigation into Lily's kidnapping. I hate to have to say it, Jack, but we've hit a dead end on this."

"Believe me, Bill. I want to help more than anything in the world right now, but there's something that I'm obliged to do. Expect me back there in about an hour and a half. If I can make it sooner, I'll be there."

"Where are you going?" Bill asked. "Since you're in one of our vehicles, I think I have the right to know."

"I'd like to tell you, but for the moment, I think it's best if I just stay quiet on the subject. I need you to trust me, Bill. I'll tell you everything when I get to CTU."

"Alright, I guess I don't have much choice in this, especially since I suspect that you've already disabled the tracking device that was installed in the car."

Jack found himself smiling. "Gee Bill, you know me better than I thought. Mason and Chappelle would have called IT and told them to track me before they figured out that the first thing I did when I got in the car this morning was to kill the tracker."

"Actually, I can't take the credit," Bill admitted. "Tony warned me that you'd do it. I was in to see him a few minutes ago. He asked when you'd be back and I said I didn't know your ETA, but I could have Chloe track you in your car. Tony just laughed and said not to bother. He said he could never find you when he needed to and he had the tech guys hide trackers in every conceivable location but that you always found them."

"After a while it was a game," Jack said. The moment had suddenly turned light and he wished that it could stay that way. "I think Tony laid awake nights trying to figure out where to hide trackers. How's Tony doing?"

"Physically, the doctor is pleased with his progress. Emotionally, he's a wreck. He found out about Michelle and right after that I had to tell him that Lily had been kidnapped. To say that he's devastated would be an understatement. Right now the only thing he's got to hang onto is the possibility that he'll get his daughter back."

"Do you have any leads?" Jack asked.

"Nothing new since the bodies of the kidnappers turned up. We're working with LAPD to talk to known associates and family of the kidnappers to try and connect them to the case in any way. I keep waiting for someone to call us and make some ransom demands, but nothing so far. None of it adds up, Jack. I've looked at this from every angle, and it just doesn't make sense."

"I agree. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to kidnap that baby and then to silence the kidnappers. They want something. I just wish I knew what."

Bill and Jack ended their conversation. Jack promised to get back to CTU as soon as possible and then turned his attention back to driving. He had gotten off of the highway and was back on city streets. They were uncharacteristically vacant due to the curfew imposed by the president. Jack moved along them with ease; stopping briefly to show his ID and credentials to the police officers at each road block along the way. Even with the stops he made it to Wayne Palmer's condo in less than his estimated half hour.

Jack entered the building and buzzed Palmer's penthouse apartment.

"Jack?" Palmer said quietly through the intercom.

"Yes, it's me, Mr. Palmer," Jack confirmed.

"Come right up," Palmer instructed him.

Minutes later Jack knocked on the door. Wayne Palmer answered it himself. Jack greeted Palmer noting immediately that he looked much calmer than he had sounded on the phone. The apartment, that was awash with Secret Service, FBI and CTU agents earlier that day, was now quiet. Jack stood in the doorway for a few seconds to take it all in. When he snuck into the apartment that morning, he hadn't had time to process it all. The finality of the day struck him hard for a moment before he was able to gather his thoughts and move forward.

"What did you need to show me?" Jack asked.

Wayne said nothing and motioned for Jack to follow him in the direction of the study. Jack again noted what seemed to be an abrupt change in Palmer's demeanor. He seemed emotionless and somehow detached.

"I thought this might be of interest to you," Palmer said as he leaned over the desktop computer and deftly typed in commands. He turned the monitor to face Jack and then stood up straight. Jack couldn't help noticed the cold steely stare Wayne gave him. "Do I have your attention now?" he asked as the picture on the monitor took shape.

"You son-of-a-bitch! I _will_ kill you if you hurt her!" Jack hissed as he watched live feed of Lily Almeida.

Despite the fact that he had never seen the child before, Jack had no doubt that he was looking at Tony and Michelle's issue. She was beautiful with light olive skin and thick black curly hair. She had Michelle's heart shaped face and high cheek bones. She appeared unharmed and little the worse for wear. It appeared that she had just woken up. She was still yawning and rubbing her eyes to clear them of sleep. The eight month old was sitting up in an old crib in a stark room. There were two stuffed animals in the crib and the baby seemed content at the moment with amusing herself by tossing the animals around the crib and crawling after them. Jack knew babies well enough to know that soon she would pull herself up on the side of the crib and start crying to get out. She would assume that her mother or father would come and rescue her from the confines of the crib. He wondered how she would react when a strange face appeared and how long they would let her cry before anyone responded to her.

"You bastard! Why are you involved in this? Did you set your brother up? What do you have to gain?" Jack was nearly apoplectic as he realized that Wayne Palmer was somehow at the root of this horrible day. "How could you do it? How could you kill your own brother?"

"David was a sap! Like you," Wayne Palmer said dismissively. "Everything was divided into good and bad, black and white. There were no gray zones for David. He started to put two and two together. He was about to figure out about the nerve gas and once he did, it wasn't going to take him long to tie me to it. If he'd kept his nose out of it, he'd still be alive, but not David. No, he couldn't leave it alone. Always crusading for justice and all of his other causes. That holier than thou attitude that people like the two of you have… I couldn't take it any more."

"So you killed him? You killed your brother? And you killed Michelle Dessler? And kidnapped her baby? Why Wayne? Why did you do it? What do you want?"

Wayne ignored his questions. "Right now, I would think your biggest concern would be how to get that baby back," he said as he pointed to the computer monitor.

Jack watched her for a moment. She was getting restless cooped up in the crib and, as he knew would happen, she pulled herself up on the rail and, although there was no audio, he knew she was chattering trying to get someone's attention. Jack swallowed hard. "Is she alright? Is someone going to take care of her? She needs food. She needs to be changed."

"The baby is just fine. She's our insurance right now so we'll make sure she's taken care of. Whether we continue to take care of her depends on you."

"What do you want from me?"

"We have a little problem that you need to solve."

Jack said nothing but waited for Wayne to continue.

"The problem is Martha Logan. She and David were very close. In fact I think they were closer than most people would guess."

"What are you suggesting?" Jack asked.

"Charles and Martha Logan's marriage has been on the rocks for years. Everyone knows that. Can you imagine being married to an ego as big as Charles Logan's? Martha's a bright, attractive woman. I know David noticed that. I think he took advantage of the situation."

"You think they were having an affair?"

"They may have been."

"So what if they were. Wasn't that their business? Why do you care?"

"Pillow talk, Jack. Pillow talk. I don't know what David told Martha. When they were apart, they talked on the phone regularly. They talked last night, in fact. And, if my sources are to be believed, Martha's come unhinged since she heard about David. I simply can't trust what she's going to do or what she's going to tell Logan. Martha's a loose end that we have to take care of."

"Are you telling me that you want Martha Logan dead?" Jack asked incredulously.

"It's the only way, Jack," Palmer said calmly. "And you're going to take care of that for me or else."

"Or else what?" Jack asked.

Palmer leaned over the computer and typed in additional commands. Jack watched the monitor as the camera angle changed. Jack was still looking at Lily Almeida who was now crying angrily to make her desire to get out of the crib known to all. But now the view was from a lower angle, as if the camera were sitting on the floor. A small box hung from the underside of the crib.

"What is that? What's under the crib?"

Palmer tapped the keys again. Jack watched as the camera moved in closer and he could see the object more clearly. It was a bomb. A digital read out on the front was counting down.

"The timer was set at 180 minutes when you walked in my door, Jack. You can see it now. It's down to 168. That's all the time you've got left. You kill Martha Logan in the next 168 minutes and Lily Almeida is safe and goes home with her father. Otherwise she goes boom just like her dearly departed mother."

"This is absurd. Martha Logan has Secret Service protection around the clock. There's no way to get near her."

"You're a resourceful guy, Jack. I'm sure you'll figure something out." Wayne looked at his watch. "You're wasting time. You better get on with this or that baby is history."

"Look, Wayne, this is crazy. No one can connect you to the nerve gas. CTU has accepted Christopher Henderson's dying confession. Even if Martha Logan talks, who would believe her? She doesn't have any proof and her psychiatric history is certainly no secret. Everyone would consider it the ravings of an insane woman who tragically lost a dear friend and possibly lover. The story of an affair could be leaked to the press. They'd eat it like candy. It would be all over the news. She would be instantly discredited. You'll walk away scot-free."

"I can't take that chance. Besides, now that you know the truth, you're not going to let me walk away. I know you. I know all about you. I know how you killed Nina Myers in cold blood. I read the report. They didn't charge you, but they could have. Nina wasn't a threat to you; you killed her because you hated her. And now you hate me. The second my back is turned, you'll empty your weapon into me." Wayne paused for a second as if to collect his thoughts. "I have two friends that are going to go with you and make sure you don't to find a way out of this." He pressed an intercom button on the phone. "Come in here, please," he said as he leaned in toward the phone. Then he focused his attention back on Jack. "When I have confirmation that Martha Logan is dead, I'll contact CTU and tell them where they can find the baby."

"What kind of assurance do I have that you'll do that?" Jack looked at the monitor at Lily who now, since no one was answering her cries, was in a full fledged panic. He was thankful that he couldn't hear her cry but was heartbroken just the same to watch her silent anguish over the monitor. "Let's face it. Once I kill Martha Logan, I'm a dead man. How can I make sure that you'll contact CTU?"

"You'll just have to trust me, Jack," Palmer said smiling and nodding in a most condescending manner.

Both Jack and Wayne turned toward a knock at the door. "In," Palmer called.

Two men entered the room. Both were taller than Jack by several inches. They wore dark, conservative suits that were tailored to emphasize their muscular bodies. "We're ready, Mr. Palmer."

"Good. So is Jack. A hundred and fifty-seven minutes, Jack," he said as he tapped the monitor. "Time's a-wasting."


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks so much for the great reviews! I'm a review hog and simply can't get enough of them. So keep 'em coming!_

Chapter 3

Jack stepped into the cool evening flanked by Wayne Palmer's two associates. Prior to leaving the building they had frisked him and removed a .38 from its hiding place on his ankle and a switch blade from his rear pocket. They let him keep his service revolver in a shoulder holster since they knew he would be searched by Secret Service at the Presidential retreat and they would expect him, as a provisional CTU agent, to be armed.

The older of the two men directed Jack to a black SUV parked in the parking garage attached to the apartment building. He indicated for Jack to get in the driver's seat. A key hung from the ignition. Jack started the car and began driving out of the garage.

"When I don't report in to CTU, they're going to start wondering where I am. All they have to do is activate the tracker in my car and they'll find the car. Then they're going to start asking questions." Jack was bluffing and at the same time cursing himself for deactivating the tracker in the car.

"When CTU gets here the car won't be here. We're not stupid, Jack. We've taken care of every important detail up until now. We're not going to slip up and have your car show up in Wayne Palmer's parking lot."

Jack continued undaunted. He needed to erode the smug confidence of the two men who were obviously under Wayne Palmer's thumb. "I hope the two of you understand that this is an impossible assignment," Jack said glancing at the older man who sat in the passenger's seat and then into the rear view mirror trying to get a good look at the second man. "Even if I can get to the First Lady, I'll never get out of that compound alive. And you two aren't either. Secret Service will make sure all three of us are good and dead. Even if you manage to get away from Secret Service, do you think Wayne Palmer is going to let you live? You know too much. He can't afford to have you holding that over his head for the rest of his life. Either way you look at it, you guys are dead."

"Shut up, Jack," said the older man. "We'll worry about our futures. Your time would be better spent trying to figure out a way to keep that baby alive."

Jack ignored him. "Do you think Palmer's going to go out on a limb for you two? He's setting you up to take the fall along with me. If you know where that baby is, you need to tell me now. I can protect you both, Palmer can't. If we get the baby back safely and you turn states evidence, I can all but guarantee you immunity from prosecution."

"Drive, Jack," the older man said calmly. "Like I said, Palmer knows who his friends are. We'll be taken care of. Right now your job is to figure out how to get to the First Lady."

Jack settled back into the driver's seat to think as the car cruised toward the Presidential Retreat. The rest of the half hour drive was largely silent. They were a couple of miles from the Retreat when Jack spoke again.

"Since you two have this all figured out, how are we going to get past Secret Service at the gate?"

"You have CTU credentials and they already know you from your visit to the Retreat this morning."

"That gets me in. How do you plan to get in?"

"We've got CTU credentials, too," said the man in the front seat. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out what looked, even to Jack's trained eye, like authentic CTU credentials. "I'm Daniels and that's Haile," he said jerking his thumb toward his silent partner in the back seat.

Jack sighed internally. He would not let these two men see that they were getting the best of him, but they were. He was hungry and tired. He was grief stricken over the losses of both David Palmer and Michelle Dessler. All he wanted to do was to find Lily Almeida and take her back to Tony. With that thought to keep him going, Jack pressed onward toward the Presidential Retreat.

Tony lay staring at the wall of the medical unit at CTU trying desperately to keep his emotions in check. An endless stream of silent tears rolled down the sides of his face as they had done for hours. He wanted to scream and beat his fists into any hard surface he could find. He wanted to throw every loose object across the room and tear the place to shreds, but instead he lay quietly, his grief weighing him down like an elephant sitting on his chest. Tony knew that he needed to maintain self control. If he reacted with the rage that could easily bubble to the surface at any minute, the doctor would sedate him.

There were moments when sedation seemed like a good idea. It would allow him to sleep. It would allow him to forget, if just for a few hours, that his beautiful world had been shattered, that his beautiful wife was gone. Sleep would allow him to suppress all of those memories of her, of her smile and her laughter and her love. But he couldn't sleep. He wouldn't allow it. He needed to be awake when Jack brought Lily back to him which he knew would happen in the end.

Jack was predictable. Once the nerve gas situation was handled, and according to Bill Buchanan, it was, Jack would be hot on Lily's trail. Jack understood Tony like no one else. Jack understood what it felt like to have your wife murdered and your daughter kidnapped. Tony sighed ruefully. He remembered several years earlier when CTU was trying to track a nuclear bomb before it was detonated over Los Angeles. Jack was called in from his inactive status to help. The events of eighteen months earlier, the death of his wife and the kidnapping and near murder of his daughter, still weighed heavily on Jack. They had made him a strange combination of bitter and passive and afraid. Tony remembered talking to Jack. It was painful. He was an empty shell. Nothing mattered to him anymore except his daughter. At the time Tony wondered how Jack could have turned into that. Despite all Jack had been through, Tony didn't understand why someone as strong as Jack couldn't find a way to put it all behind him and pull his life together. He was young and talented and he was wasting his life. Tony never wanted to be like that. He promised himself that he would never turn into Jack no matter what happened to him. But now, now at this moment, he understood. He wanted only to curl up and die. He wanted to be with Michelle. He wanted to be there waiting with her if Lily came to join them.

Tony was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't hear the approaching footsteps.

"Hi, Tony," said Chloe in a soft, almost reluctant voice. It was so unlike her that Tony had to think for a moment before it registered who was talking to him. "How're you holding up?"

Tony shrugged and blinked back tears. "I'll be better if you tell me that Jack found my daughter."

"I wish I could do that, but I can't."

"Do you have any new leads?" Tony asked.

"LAPD is talking to known associates of the three people who posed as CTU agents. Everybody is saying the same thing. These three were pretty small time hoods, so kidnapping is very out of character for all of them. The only possible lead we've got is that one of the guys, his name is Ronald Kane, was pretty deep in debt with a drug kingpin named Angus Drake. Apparently Kane was a mule for Drake but he kept shoving the candy up his nose instead of carrying to Drake's salesmen."

"I remember that name," Tony said. His eyes sparked with interest. "We had Drake on a terrorist watch list for years. When I first started at CTU we ran an operation against him. He got away, but we arrested a couple of his associates and killed a couple of others. "

"Well, from what we can tell that operation scared him out of the terror business. Right after that he seemed to lose his ties in the terrorist world and he moved into the drug business. Drake always liked to live the high life and that takes money. Terrorist causes don't ususally net too much profit. They don't do it for the money; they do it because they believe in the cause. Drake likes to make a profit and there is no bigger profit to be made than in the drug trade. LAPD thinks that Drake is somehow involved, like he was willing to write off the debt if Kane would kidnap Lily."

"I don't get the connection. If Drake is strictly into drugs, why is he interested in kidnapping Lily?"

"LAPD isn't sure, but they think that Drake is just doing a favor for one of his old cronies. Christopher Henderson didn't pull this off by himself. They think the terrorist connection is from out of town and needed some local muscle for the bombing at your house and the kidnapping. Drake has plenty of locals who would do his bidding. I just pulled all of the old files CTU had on Drake from archives. We've got a dozen people on it looking for a connection."

"Where's Jack?"

"Right now, we don't know. Jack called Buchanan almost an hour ago and said there was something that he needed to take care of before he came in. He wouldn't tell Buchanan what it was all about. He said he'd be here as soon as possible."

"It has something to do with Lily," Tony said confidently. "I know Jack. If this wasn't about Lily, he'd be back here by now. Any chance you can track him?"

"None. If you know Jack so well, then you know that he always covers his tracks. We have no idea where he is. We're hoping he calls in soon. Believe me, Tony, we're doing everything possible to try and find your daughter. Everybody who worked with you and Michelle volunteered to stay and help track down leads."

"Tell them all that I said thanks," he told her, his voice cracking with emotion. "Let them know that I appreciate it and Michelle would have appreciated it, too. Lily meant everything in the world to her."

Chloe nodded. "Sure, Tony. I'll do that. Look, I've got to get back to help sort through those files. Try and get some rest. I'll let you know if we find anything."

Tony stopped trying to control his emotions as Chloe walked away. He finally allowed himself to cry unchecked. What little news Chloe had brought him was enough to push him deeper into despair. The fact that they had lost contact with Jack was the most frightening to him. If Jack had gone dark, he was into something big. And in Jack's case, "big" usually meant dangerous. From experience Tony knew that Jack was putting his life at risk and the likelihood of a good outcome for either Jack or Lily was low.

Jack made the left turn into the Presidential Retreat and stopped at the first guard booth.

"Can I help you, sir?" the uniformed Secret Service agent asked as he stepped up to the car.

"I'm Jack Bauer from CTU," Jack said as he held up his identification to the agent. "I need to talk to Aaron Pierce."

The agent took the ID and stepped back into the booth. Jack watched as he tapped lightly on a computer keyboard.

"Your ID checks, sir, but CTU didn't notify us that you were coming," the agent told him. It was a nice way of telling Jack that he wasn't getting through the gate.

"I know that Agent Wilson," Jack said reading the man's name badge. "CTU doesn't know that I'm here and I prefer to keep it that way. I've got some new intel and at the moment, I'm not sure who at CTU I can trust. I need to talk to Agent Pierce before I can decide what to do with the intel."

"Who do you have with you, sir?" the agent asked. Jack was a good liar and the agent, although wary, seemed to be buying the story.

"Agents Daniels and Haile," he told Agent Wilson as the two fake agents held up CTU identification.

Wilson reached for the IDs and looked them over, but handed them back without checking the computer database.

"Look, Agent Wilson, if you'll just get Agent Pierce on the phone and tell him that I need to see him, I'm sure he'll agree to it. This is important. Pierce is the only one I can trust right now," Jack implored him.

Wilson stepped back inside the booth and picked up a phone. Jack suspected that he was calling his immediate superior prior to calling Aaron Pierce who was the head of the presidential detail. Jack could tell by the tenor of the conversation that Wilson's superior had given the young man the go ahead to call Pierce.

"Agent Pierce," Wilson said into the phone. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir. I have a CTU agent named Jack Bauer here at the main gate. He said he needs to talk to you. Something about new intel."

Jack waited anxiously while Wilson listened to instructions from Pierce. "Thank you, sir. I'll send him right back." Wilson closed his phone and pocketed it. "Agent Pierce will see you sir. Before I send you back I'll have to ask you to open your trunk and hood and the three of you will have to step out of the car.

This was routine and Jack knew it. The car was carefully searched for weapons or explosives, a process that took almost ten minutes. At the same time, Jack, Haile and Daniels were all frisked and their service weapons examined and then returned to them.

"You've been cleared, sir," Wilson said to Jack. "Agent Pierce is in the main house. Follow this road about a 100 yards and make a left. The house is a half mile back on your right. Pierce will be waiting for you at the side entrance."

Jack thanked Wilson and put up his window as he drove through the gate.

"That was pretty slick, Jack," Daniels said to him. "That baby might have a chance if you keep this up."

Jack said nothing and followed the directions to the main house. Secret Service directed him to park several yards from the side entrance. The three stepped out of the car and the Secret Service agent at the door again checked their credentials before granting them entry.

"Have a seat, gentlemen," The agent said as he led them into a small sitting room. "Agent Pierce will be right in."

The three sat silently waiting for Pierce. Jack could feel his heart pounding in his throat. Despite years of training and working through any number of equally desperate situations, Jack felt more helpless at this moment than at any other in his life, except when Teri and Kim had been kidnapped.

Jack and the other two men stood as they heard Aaron Pierce's footsteps on the tile floor outside of the sitting room. Pierce immediately extended his hand to Jack.

"Aaron, I'm sorry to bother you," he said not doing the courtesy of introducing the two men he brought with him. "I have some new intel that I need to verify. I need to talk to the First Lady."

"You're kidding, right?" Aaron said almost smiling.

"No, Aaron, I'm serious. I think Mrs. Logan may be able to help us out."

"What kind of intel?"

"I can't discuss it. I need to talk to the First Lady."

"This sounds like you're accusing her of something, Jack," Pierce said. Jack noticed something in Pierce's tone. He got the sense that Pierce was almost defensive about Martha Logan. In his earlier dealings with Pierce and President Logan, Jack got the feeling that Pierce didn't much care for the President. He obviously felt differently about the First Lady.

"I'm not accusing her of anything, Aaron. I'm just hoping that she can shed some light on something for us, that's all. Trust me."

"I can't arrange for you to talk to the First Lady today. Even if I could, I'd advise her to have counsel present," Aaron told him still acting defensive regarding Martha Logan.

"Look, Aaron, I need your help here. I'm between a rock and a hard place. I need to talk to Martha Logan. It has to do with David Palmer's assassination."

Pierce didn't hear the last two sentences. He stopped listening when Jack used the phrase "between a rock and a hard place". That was code. Jack was telling him that someone was forcing him to do this.

"We've known each other a long time," Jack said. "I need you to help me out here."

Pierce's tone softened. "I'll see what I can do. Let me talk to the First Lady. As you know she was a close friend of David Palmer and she's not taking his death well. I think she's resting right now. I'll do what I can but I can't guarantee that she'll talk to you. In the meantime I'll have someone bring you some coffee."

"Thanks, Aaron, I'd appreciate that," Jack said with a slight smile.

Pierce walked quickly toward the Secret Service office down the hall. On the way he leaned into the kitchen.

"Excuse me," he called to a young woman who was cutting vegetables and dropping them into a steaming kettle. "I need someone to bring coffee service for four to my office."

"Yes, sir," the woman answered. She wasn't used to being ordered around by Secret Service but something in Agent Pierce's usually gentle tone made her nervous. "I'll take care of that myself."

Pierce headed into the office and closed the door behind him. He was barely in the room when he started giving orders to agents that were nearby.

"Byron, I need to you get Bill Buchanan from CTU Los Angeles on the phone now. Tell him it's urgent. Carson, increase security on Mrs. Logan's room. I want a second agent at her door and two agents stationed at the entrance to the family quarters. I also want two agents stationed outside in front of the windows to Mrs. Logan's room. Tell the agents outside to make sure that the First Lady doesn't see them. She's been through a lot today and if she sees someone lurking around her windows it's going to scare the hell out of her. Do it now. I have reason to believe that there is a significant threat to Mrs. Logan's safety."

Both agents acknowledged Pierce's orders with a brief nod and a snappy "yes, sir" before they moved off to execute them. Pierce turned to the only female agent in the room. "Agent Long, how are your acting skills?"

"Sir?" she answered squinting to show her confusion.

"Here's what I need you to do," Pierce told her. He quickly outlined a plan. "Can you pull it off?"

"I think I can, sir," she answered confidently.

"Good, that'll buy us some time," Pierce told her as the phone in his breast pocket rang. "Pierce," he said into the phone. "Good, put him on the line." Pierce waited a moment while a call was transferred in. "Bill, this is Aaron Pierce from Secret Service. We have a serious problem and I'm going to need your help."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Agent Virginia Long drew a nervous breath as she took the tray of coffee and cups from the young assistant chef. Years of training with weapons and tactics and it was all coming down to her ability to act stupid. No one was quite sure of what was going on, but Pierce was clear on two points: Martha Logan was in danger and Jack Bauer was being used as a pawn.

Reaching into her jacket pocket, Ginger, as everyone called her, drew out the small box that Pierce had given her. She opened it revealing several small glass vials. As instructed, she opened three of the vials and poured the contents into each of three cups. She filled those cups with coffee and set the empty fourth cup aside.

Satisfied that she was ready, Ginger picked up the tray and headed down the hall to the sitting room. She entered the room where Jack sat with the two as yet unidentified men.

"Hi!" Ginger said cheerfully as she breezed through the room.

Jack recognized her immediately as one of the agents he had seen when he was at the Presidential Retreat earlier in the day.

"Sorry for the wait," she said with almost a high school girl giggle. "You know Mrs. Logan. She won't come and talk to you guys unless she has her make up on and her hair done." Ginger giggled again and set down the tray. "Agent Pierce though you guys might like to have some coffee."

"Thanks," Jack said closely watching her every move.

"Doesn't it figure," she went on airily in her best valley-girl imitation. "I'm the only female agent so when Pierce needs someone to serve coffee he picks me. When I took this job I thought it would be exciting and I end up a high paid waitress."

Ginger handed a cup to one of the men and continued to chat. "So you guys are from CTU? I bet you see way more action than Secret Service does. Maybe I should apply at CTU. This following the President and First Lady around is becoming a drag." She turned and handed a cup to the second man and then started toward Jack.

"Hey! I know you!" she said excitedly. "You're Jack Bauer. I heard all about what you did this morning and how you got that creep Walt Cummings to confess to all the stuff that he did. I never liked him. He was so sneaky. You're a real legend around here. Ever since I started I've heard about Jack Bauer and how you saved President Palmer's life before he was elected. I can't believe I'm standing in the same room with you," Ginger gushed. "Where're my manners?" she stuck out her hand. "I'm Virginia Long, but my friends call me Ginger. Oh, there I go again babbling on like a fool. Let me get your coffee."

Ginger turned to get the cup and bumped the bottom against the edge of the tray spilling the contents on the carpet. "Oh my God! I am such a klutz! I can't believe I just did that."

Jack reached for napkins to help her clean it up.

"Oh, no! You don't have to do that. Let me get you another cup of coffee and then I'll clean it up. Oh, God! You must think I'm such an idiot! I'll be right back." Ginger hurried from the room.

"The Secret Service must be hard up if they hired her!" the younger of Wayne Palmer's two associates commented.

The older man nodded in agreement while they both sat back and drank their coffee. "She's sweet on you, Jack. Maybe you should ask her out. She might be fun to have around for a night or two."

Ginger was back in a minute with a fresh cup of coffee which she handed carefully to Jack apologizing repeatedly. She glanced at the other two men and then excused herself from the room. She was satisfied that both were already starting to look drowsy. The drug would only take a few more minutes to work. Looking back from the doorway, Ginger made eye contact with Jack and the two exchanged a knowing smile.

Aaron Pierce was just finishing his conversation with Bill Buchanan when Ginger returned to the office. "How did it go?" he asked her.

"Like a charm. They're both looking pretty sleepy at the moment. It shouldn't be much longer before they're both out cold."

"Good. Keep an eye on the situation. As soon as they're asleep, cuff them to the chairs and call me. I want Jack to tell me what's going on."

"Did Buchanan have any idea?" Ginger queried.

"None. Bauer told him about an hour and a half ago that he had something he had to take care of and that as soon as he was finished he would go back to CTU. Buchanan said he had no reason to believe that Bauer was under any duress at the time, but he'll have the conversation reviewed by his tactical people and see if there were any codes that he missed. If Jack had been under duress, he would have found a way to let Buchanan know. He gave me a duress code as soon as he could work it into the conversation. He would have done the same to Bill. We're both convinced that something happened after the last time Bill and Jack spoke. Only Jack can tell us the whole story."

"Does Buchanan know who the men are that came in with Jack?"

"No, as far as he knows, Jack was alone when they last spoke. I have our guys and CTU checking the surveillance video of them to see if we can get a match on their identities. We don't have anything yet."

Agent Long looked at her watch. "That should be enough time for the sedative to work. Let me go and check on Jack and his 'friends' and maybe we can get some answers from Jack."

When Ginger opened the door to the sitting room, Jack had removed the older man's necktie and was tying his hands behind him. Both men were slumped over nearly falling out of their chairs. She flipped open her phone and called Pierce to tell them that their plan had worked.

"Pierce is on his way," Ginger told him. "Need help?" she asked him as she tossed a roll of duct tape in his direction.

Jack smiled at her. "Thanks. It's a lot easier that way. What'd you give them?"

"Midazolam. It's a rapid acting benzodiazepine, kind of like Valium only with a quicker onset. Anesthesiologists use it during surgery for short procedures. They usually inject it, but you can give it orally and it works fine. We gave them a pretty hefty dose so they'll be out for a while unless we give the antidote and wake them up."

Pierce walked in as they finished securing the two men who were now their prisoners.

"Aaron, thanks for bailing me out. I owe you one," he said shaking hands with Pierce once again.

"What's going on, Jack? Is the First Lady in danger?" Aaron asked anxiously.

"I don't have a lot of time to explain, but in a nut shell, I was sent here to kill Martha Logan."

"By whom?" Aaron asked incredulously.

"You're going to have a hard time believing this, Aaron, but I was sent by Wayne Palmer."

"Why would Wayne Palmer want Martha Logan dead?"

"Wayne Palmer was the mastermind behind everything that happened today: the nerve gas, his brother's assassination, the attack on Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler. He was responsible for everything. Apparently he was concerned that President Palmer was starting to figure out what was going on. He knew that Martha Logan and his brother were good friends and he was afraid that his brother confided in Mrs. Logan. Wayne wanted to make sure that she couldn't blow the whistle on him," Jack explained.

"That explains Wayne Palmer's role. Why would you have gone along with him?"

"I was forced to. This morning when the car bomb blew up at the Almeida's house, Tony and Michelle's baby was kidnapped. Wayne Palmer is holding her hostage. He told me the only way to get her back was to kill the First Lady. Of course, I would never hurt Mrs. Logan. You know that, Aaron. I just had to buy some time."

Aaron nodded. "I understand, Jack. This is your operation. You tell me how you want to proceed. I've already talked to Bill Buchanan. He has a tac team on stand by in case you need them. He also said to call him and let him know what other resources you need. I can dispatch a Secret Service unit to arrest Wayne Palmer."

"No, not yet," Jack explained. "If Palmer thinks that I haven't completed my mission, there's no way he'll give Lily Almeida back to me. The truth is that he probably never had any intention of giving her back to me, but dammit, Aaron, I've got to try. This is our only hope of finding that baby before it's too late. He's holding her in an undisclosed location and from the video feed he let me watch, he has a bomb under her crib. It's set to go off in less than two hours. That's all the time we have to get her back."

Aaron again nodded now fully understanding the gravity of the situation. "Again, Jack, this is your operation. I'll do whatever I can to cooperate."

"Let's start by waking them up and finding out how much they know."

Jack and Aaron both turned as they heard the door behind them open. Pierce spoke, "What is it Byron?"

"Bill Buchanan from CTU just called. They got a match on these two guys," Agent Byron angled his head to indicate the two sleeping figures duct taped to the chairs. He passed two pages printed with grainy photographs to his boss. "The older one is Maurice Ward and his friend here is Edward Riker. Both have been on watch lists for LAPD for years. Not a lot is known about them. They've managed to stay largely below the radar. Apparently they've had some association with a drug lord named Angus Drake in the past. Drake is full time into drugs now, but in the past he was kind of a soldier of fortune. He hired himself out to anyone with a terrorist agenda and money. Drake's name came up earlier today when the bodies of those three people were found down near the docks. LAPD thinks Drake was hired by someone to provide local muscle for this operation."

Jack and Aaron looked at each other. "Wayne Palmer," Jack said. "Palmer must have brought Drake on board. That's how these guys got involved. We need to find Drake." Jack paused for a moment to think. "Call CTU and have them find out what they can about Drake's location. I want a tac team near that location but they need to be invisible. If Drake or Palmer even smells law enforcement, Lily Almeida is dead. While CTU's trying to find Drake, let's wake these guys up. Where's the antidote?"

Agent Long withdrew two vials and two syringes from a small case. "It's right here," she said as she popped opened the vials, inserted the needles into the rubber stoppers on the top and drew the contents of the vials into the syringes. "This should do it."

The antidote reversed the effects of the sedative. Ward and Riker woke up quickly, groggy at first but soon realizing what had happened.

"This is fairly simple, gentlemen," Jack said in a mocking tone. "You two cooperate with me or I get to kill you. If you think I'll feel bad about that or that I'll wake up tomorrow with any regret, you'd be wrong. I'd give anything to pull the trigger right now but it's more important that I find the baby your boss kidnapped. She doesn't mean anything to you and right now, the best thing you can do for yourself is to tell me everything you know. Pierce and I can make sure that the federal prosecutor knows that you cooperated. We'll recommend that they go easy on you. Now tell me where the baby is."

"You're wasting your time, Jack," Maurice Ward said evenly, almost taunting him.

"I'm going to ask you again," Jack said a little more insistently enunciating each syllable clearly and slowly. "Tell me where the baby is!"

"And I'm going to tell you one more time: you're wasting your time. I don't know where the baby is."

Jack's rage spilled over. He drew his weapon is one sharp, rapid move and pressed it to the man's head forcing his neck back as far as it would go. "Tell me where the baby is!" Jack screamed in a voice the filled the entire room.

Agent Long flinched involuntarily and felt Pierce's reassuring hand on her shoulder. She knew Jack was a professional but he was scaring her and she wondered what he was capable of.

"We don't know where the baby is," Riker cried in a quivering voice. "Palmer kept that part of the operation separate."

"You're lying!" Jack screamed as he turned suddenly and pressed the gun to the Ed Riker's temple. "Tell me the truth or I'll pull the trigger!"

"It's the truth! I swear it. Please don't kill me," Riker begged. He clearly wasn't as seasoned as Ward and was breaking down quickly. "If I knew I'd tell you. We told Mr. Palmer that kidnapping the baby was a bad idea. He said that he needed her for insurance. He said she was good bait, that if any part of the plan went wrong he could use her. When he got suspicious this morning that Martha Logan might know that he was involved, he decided to use the baby to get you to kill the First Lady. He said that he knew you'd do it if you thought you could get your friend's baby back. Please take the gun away. I don't know anything else."

Jack and Aaron looked at each other satisfied that Riker would have talked by now if he knew anything. Jack holstered his weapon and stepped back.

"It really doesn't matter where the baby is, Jack," Ward said in a tone that still oozed with defiance. He nodded toward a clock. "You have less than an hour and a half to find her and even if you did, the door to her room is wired so that if anyone tries to open it, the bomb will go off. That wire can only be defused by remote control. And by the way, if you use the wrong frequency remote…Yes, you guessed it. The bomb goes off and it's bye-bye baby. Give it up, Jack. That baby's good as dead. The only chance you had of getting that baby back alive was giving Wayne Palmer what he wanted: Martha Logan's head on a platter."

Jack put his hands on Ward's shoulders and leaned in close so their faces were inches apart. "Well, then you know what your going to do?" Jack hissed angrily. "You're going to convince Wayne Palmer that Martha Logan is dead. You're going to make him believe that I killed her and that you helped."

"Why would I bother doing that, Jack?" Ward sneered.

Jack reached under his jacket and drew his gun. He pressed the grey steel barrel just below Ward's breast bone. "Because I've got the gun, that's why. If you let on to Wayne Palmer in any way that Martha Logan is upstairs sleeping, I'll shoot. You might be thinking that dying isn't such a bad thing right now and you're probably right but nobody wants to die the way I'll make you die. I'm not envisioning a clean execution style gunshot to the back of the head, my friend. No, you'll die while everyone in this room listens to you begging for me to kill you. You'll die in more agony than you ever thought possible." Jack stared straight into Ward's eyes for added effect. Wards stared back, unblinking and Jack knew that he had finally gotten to him. "So, do you plan to cooperate or should I ask Agents Byron and Long to leave so they don't have to witness. I'd hate to scar them so early in their careers."

Ward was silent but swallowed hard.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Jack said. He reached into Ward's pocket and pulled out a phone. He began coaching Ward on the story he was to tell Palmer. "Got it?"

"Yeah," Ward answered succinctly.

"You better," Jack retorted or else I'm going to order dinner from the kitchen so I have something to do while I watch you die." Jack turned to Agent Byron. "Get CTU on the line. I want them to hear this conversation and be ready to take action."

Within minutes CTU was tapped into Ward's phone and was listening from downtown Los Angeles. It took some doing since Palmer had given Ward a scramble phone, but Chloe was able to get around it. "We're a go here, Jack. Proceed when ready," Bill told him.

Jack dialed Palmer's number and held the phone to Ward's ear with one hand and the gun to his midsection with the other.

"Mr. Palmer," Ward said in a clear voice. "It's done. I need the escape plans."

"Not so fast," Palmer told him. "Tell me how you pulled it off."

"Bauer convinced the Secret Service that Mrs. Logan had information that CTU needed. He told them that it would be best if they brought her down to CTU to be interviewed. We were in one car and she was in a limo behind us with two agents. Jack pulled off the road and put up the hood like we were having engine trouble. When the two agents got out to help us, we killed them. Mrs. Logan was easy to finish off. We drove the limo with the bodies in it to a wooded area near the reservoir. No one is going to miss them for an hour or so. When they do, it'll take a little while to find them even using satellite tracking. I figure Riker and I have about two hours to get out of the country. Now tell me what airfield the plane is waiting at."

Jack pulled the phone from Ward's ear. "Enough. You two can negotiate an escape later. I want the location where I can get Lily Almeida. I kept up my end of the bargain, Wayne. Now you're going to keep up your end or I'm going straight to CTU and telling them everything I know. Every state and federal agency will be looking for you within the next half hour."

Palmer laughed. "You're funny, Jack. You claim that you just murdered the First Lady and two Secret Service agents and you're going to walk into CTU. You might as well sign your own death warrant."

Now it was Jack's turn to laugh. "Do you think that scares me? Dying by lethal injection is easy, Wayne. I've been living the life of a dead man for the last 18 months. Right now dying looks like the easy way out. I can handle that. Can you?"

"Calm down, Jack. You'll get the location and my men will get their escape plans. Meet me in a half hour at the old Warwick Paper Company warehouse. Use the south entrance and pull around to the loading dock. I'll be waiting for you. If anybody other than the three of you show up, the baby's going to die. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Jack said in a tone that suggested defeat. "We'll be there."

Jack closed the phone and then turned toward the speaker phone on a nearby table. "Did CTU get all of that, Bill?"

"Got it, Jack. Curtis has a tac team on the way to the meeting location. According to city records the building is abandoned. We have to assume that Palmer plans to ambush you when you get there. Do you have a vest?"

"I can get one from Secret Service. I'll also get comm equipment from them. I'll have them give Chloe the frequency so we can stay in constant communication. What's the ETA on the tac team?"

"About ten minutes. I've also got a car stationed near Palmer's condo. He'll keep an eye on Palmer and make sure he goes to the warehouse. I'll let you know what the tac team finds as soon as they arrive."

"I copy. Chloe, send the directions to the warehouse to my PDA. I want the most direct route with the least amount of traffic."

"I'll have it to you in a minute or so, Jack," Chloe told him. "Then I'll talk to the communications director from Secret Service and we'll have your comm set up."

"Thanks, Chloe. Once I have directions and comm I'll be ready to go."

"Jack," a familiar voice broke in.

Jack stepped over to the table and picked up the phone's handset to talk privately.

"Hey," he said softly. He stepped toward the far corner of the room. "Are you hanging in there?" he asked Audrey.

"Yeah," she said back. "I just wanted to remind you to be careful. Okay?"

"I'm always careful, Sweetheart," he assured her.

"I've seen you take some pretty big risks," Audrey tried to laugh in order to cover a quiet sob.

"The only risks I take are necessary ones. I promise you, Audrey, any risk I take at this point is only to save Lily's life. That's my focus right now," he told her gently.

"I know," Audrey answered unable to keep from crying. "It feels like you're walking into a trap.

"I am walking into a trap, Audrey. We both know that. CTU'll be watching my back. They'll take every possible precaution."

"I know that, Jack, but I'm scared. I just want to make sure that you come back to me."

"And I need to make sure that when I come back to you I have Lily with me. I love you, Audrey, and I want to come back to you but I owe it to Tony to do everything in my power to rescue his daughter. He did everything he could to save my family when they were in danger. I have to do the same for him. I need you to understand that."

"I do, Jack. Just promise me you'll be careful."

"I will, honey. I'll see you soon." Jack took a deep breath and hung up the phone.

"Agent Bauer," Ginger said bringing him out of his reverie. "I have a flak jacket for you and Byron's getting your communication equipment. Pierce is having two agents take Riker and Ward to the car. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Jack said in his take charge voice. "Let CTU know that we're a go."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jack put his conversation with Audrey behind him as he strode confidently to the car. Ward was secured in the passenger seat and Riker in the back seat. If Palmer had someone watching his approach to the warehouse, as Jack suspected, the observer would not in any way be tipped off that Riker and Ward were now prisoners rather than co-conspirators. After a few last minutes details were worked out, Jack left the Presidential Retreat. Secret Service would follow at a safe distance so as not to arouse suspicion.

"CTU, it's Bauer. Do you copy?" Jack asked checking out his communications equipment.

"You're coming in loud and clear," Chloe responded. "Jack, I've got infrared satellite images of the warehouse. There are three people moving around in the east wing of the building right now. And according to our man following Wayne Palmer, he just left his condo."

"Thanks, Chloe. Keep me up to date."

Jack guided the SUV through the city using the directions Chloe sent to him. He was about ten minutes from the warehouse and was mentally going through a final safety checklist, something he had done almost unconsciously on every mission for as long as he could remember. Bill's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Jack, out tac team is on site. The three people Chloe saw on satellite in the east wing of the building have moved. They've taken up positions on the roof or in windows and the tac team has them in their sights. The hostiles are armed with sniper rifles. We've also identified a lookout in a wooded area about a mile from the warehouse entrance."

"What's the plan?"

"For right now we're watching all of the hostiles from a distance. We'll take out the lookout once you near the entrance. Presumably he has to report in, so if we take him out before he has a chance to report to Palmer that you're approaching the entrance, we risk blowing our cover."

"You're right. You can't take out the lookout until I pass him. What are you doing about the snipers?"

"All three of them are in fairly exposed positions. Our men feel they can take them out as you pull up to the loading dock. There's no reason to believe that they'll take a shot at you while you're in the car. The expectation is that you and the men with you will get out of your car to talk to Palmer and at that time, they'll open fire. Palmer may also be expecting them to report in, so again, if we take them out too early, he'll be tipped off. We have to be careful not to do anything to spook Palmer. If he takes off and we lose him, Lily Almeida doesn't have a chance. This is putting you at more risk than I'm comfortable with, Jack, but I don't know how else to run this operation."

"You're doing fine, Bill. I'd be running the operation the exact same way. Does Tony know what's going on?"

"No, the doctor had to sedate him. He was insisting on getting out of bed to try and help run the operation. He's been asleep for the last hour or so."

"Good, he needs the rest. I'm just hoping that when he wakes up we have good news for him."

"Yeah, me too," Bill agreed.

"Jack," Chloe interrupted. "We've got you on satellite now. You're about to pass the location of Palmer's lookout. Palmer pulled into the warehouse entrance about five minutes ago. He parked his car near the loading dock. As far as we can tell Palmer is alone in the car."

"Got it," Jack responded. "Keep me posted of any changes."

Jack drove the last mile or two to the entrance to the warehouse complex. He made the turn onto the property and wound his way around to the loading dock. As he expected, Wayne Palmer was parked in a protected area of the loading dock. Jack smiled when he saw the position of Palmer's car. The man was truly an amateur. He had essentially parked himself into a corner and was leaning lazily against the driver's side door. Jack pulled the SUV up at an angle that effectively blocked Palmer's egress. Palmer realized his error immediately and Jack could tell that he was beginning to panic.

"Bill, tell me when you're ready," Jack instructed.

"Give us another few seconds, Jack. Two snipers are down."

Chloe's voice broke in. "Adams just reported in. He took out the third sniper."

"We're a go, Jack," Bill told him. "Be careful. We have no idea if Palmer is armed."

"I will," Jack replied as he opened the car door. He stepped out and stood next to the car for a second.

Palmer watched expectantly as Jack took his first steps away from the car and into what should have been clear view of the snipers. Jack approached the car slowly. Palmer looked around nervously as if waiting for something to happen. When Jack was less than six feet away Palmer turned and scanned the surrounding rooftops.

"They're not there, Wayne. No one is. Your snipers are dead. Your lookout is dead. You're out here all alone. It's over, Wayne. The best thing you can do for yourself right now is to tell me where the baby is. Show some humanity, Wayne. You killed your own brother. At least let Lily Almeida go." Jack's voice was quiet and almost haunting.

Palmer was silent for a moment. He obviously had not thought this plan out well. He was acting on emotion and emotion had a way of keeping people from thinking logically.

Jack could see that Palmer was almost too shocked to answer. He stood impotently against the side of the car staring at Jack.

"Give me the location where I can find the baby," Jack said more pointedly this time.

"It's more complicated than that," Wayne whispered.

Now Jack was shouting. "This isn't complicated, Wayne!" He grabbed Palmer by the throat and pushed him hard against the car. "You give me the location and I'll get the baby back to her father," Jack screamed in his face.

"I don't know the location," Wayne whimpered as he gasped for breath. "I don't know the location."

"Then who does?"

"Angus Drake," Palmer choked.

"What does Drake have to do with all of this?" Jack let off some of the pressure so Palmer could talk.

"I needed some help. Somebody suggested Drake. He's into the drug trade. He's got a lot of contacts."

"None of this is about drugs. Why is Drake interested?"

"Money. You can buy anybody, Jack. You know that. Drake liked the payday."

"Drake makes millions in drugs. I can't believe that you're paying him enough to make it worth his while."

"Some guys are just greedy."

"You're right, some guys are, but I don't think Drake is. This is a dangerous operation. Drake's been careful to keep out of anything that can backfire in his face. This is out of character for him," Jack said still not understanding.

"Maybe this operation is just a little personal."

"Personal? How so?"

"Several years ago Almeida was in charge of an operation against Drake."

"Yeah, I remember that," Jack told Palmer. "Am I supposed to believe that Drake was willing to risk everything to get revenge? As I recall, Drake escaped unscathed and the only casualties were a few of his low level gophers.

"Not quite. Drake's girlfriend was killed. She got caught in the crossfire. She was seven months pregnant at the time. Drake has never forgiven Almeida. When I first approached him about this operation, he wasn't interested. He got a lot more interested when I told him that the plan included killing Almeida and his family. Drake had one of his people set up a fake meeting with Tony and Michelle this morning so he knew they would have to get in the car and drive to the meeting. The original plan was to kill Almeida and his wife with the car bomb and then go in the back of the house and kill the baby and whoever stayed behind to watch her. It got complicated when Almeida didn't die in the explosion. So Drake kidnapped the baby. He was going to kill her and dump the body, but I told him to hold onto her in case we needed some insurance. It worked. She was the perfect bait. Now Drake's going to kill her. You don't have a chance to get her back."

Jack threw Wayne Palmer to the ground and drew his weapon to keep Palmer from moving. "Bill, did you get all of that?" he asked.

"We got it, Jack. Audrey's looking right now to see if she can get a location on Drake."

"I'm going to cuff Palmer and have the CTU team on site here bring Palmer and his accomplices back to CTU."

"Do you think you can get any other information out of Palmer or his men before we bring them downtown?" Bill asked.

"I don't think so, Bill. I don't think they know anything else," he told Bill as he helped the agents on the scene to get the three handcuffed prisoners into a CTU vehicle.

"Jack," Audrey interrupted, "I can't find Angus Drake's name on any properties. But there's a holding company named 'Scottish Royalty' owned by a woman named Kathleen MacNally. MacNally is Drake's half sister. 'Scottish Royalty' owns several properties in and around LA. LAPD believe that the Drake keeps the company in her name and launders his drug money through it. One of the properties is a small commercial-type building near the port about a half mile from where the bodies of the three kidnappers were found."

"That sounds promising, but I'd like to have a more solid lead than that," Jack said. "Bill, do you have people in Wayne Palmer's condo?"

"Yes, they're going over the place right now. Why? What are you looking for?"

"When I was in Palmer's condo, he showed me live internet feed of Lily Almeida. Chloe, if we can get the IP address from his computer and tap into the feed, can you triangulate a location?"

"I can try; Jack, but I can't promise anything. Drake probably isn't stupid enough to put out a direct feed. He probably has it routed through a half a dozen countries. It could take me hours to trace the feed back to its point of origin and from what you said before, we don't have hours."

"We have to try, Chloe. Bill, in the meantime, can you send a tac team and a bomb squad to that location near the port?"

"They're already on their way, Jack. Curtis is leading the team. Their ETA is about 20 minutes."

"Good. Warn them to be careful. One of Palmer's men told me that the door to the room where they're holding Lily is booby trapped. It's set to detonate the device if anyone tries to open the door."

"I'll warn them. Are you coming back to CTU?"

"No, I'm going to head out to Drake's building at the port. Chloe, send directions to my PDA."

"Jack, Curtis can handle this. Why don't you come back here?" Bill suggested gently.

"I'm sorry, Bill. I need to be there if they find Tony's daughter there. I need to be there to bring her back to Tony."

"Jack, you know this may not have a happy ending," Bill reminded him.

"I know that, Bill. I just need to be there. Tony would do the same for me. I can't let him down." Jack paused for a moment. "Stay in contact. I want to know immediately if you have any new information."

Jack got into the SUV and turned left onto the main road following the directions that Chloe had given him. He glanced at the time on the clock. Quick mental calculations told him that the bomb under Lily's crib would go off in less than 30 minutes unless the bomb squad found a way to stop it. And all of that assumed that they were even going to the correct building.

"Jack," Chloe said brining Jack's thoughts back into focus. "I've got something. I got the IP address from Wayne Palmer's computer. I was right. Drake is running the signal through the series of relays but he made a mistake that makes it easier to track. You see, when he made the second connection through Hong Kong…"

"Chloe!" Jack raised his voice to interrupt. "I don't care how he made the mistake; I just want to know what he found out."

"Well, you don't have to yell at me! All you had to do was say so," Chloe said with an exasperated puff.

"Look, Chloe, I'm sorry, but we're running out of time here. I just want to know where the signal originates."

"It originates in a three story apartment building about five miles south of your current location. I'm sending directions to your PDA now," Chloe told him, still obviously annoyed at being rebuffed earlier.

"Jack," Bill broke in, "I just got off the phone with Curtis. We've redirected the tac team and the bomb squad to the apartment building. We're pretty sure we have the right building. I was able to get LAPD to send two nearby units to the location. They started checking on all of the units to see if any of the tenants saw or heard anything suspicious. Two neighbors complained that there has been a baby crying on and off, and apparently more on than off, since about 10 o'clock this morning. None of the residents has ever heard a baby crying from this particular apartment in the past. Right now the police can't hear any crying and no one is answering the door to that unit. LAPD is evacuating the building.

"The building superintendent is cooperating. He identified the renters for that unit as the two guys who were found dead at the port. LAPD's got probable cause to go into the apartment. They're waiting for the go ahead from CTU. I've told them to stand down until the bomb squad gets there. They're ETA is 7 minutes."

"Bill, is anyone monitoring the internet feed of Lily?"

"Audrey's watching that for us."

"Can you see the time remaining on the timer?"

Audrey answered his question. "It's down to 17 minutes, Jack."

"Dammit!" Jack exclaimed. "I'm on my way to the apartment building, Bill. Let Curtis know that I'll meet him there."

"Will do," Bill responded simply.

"Audrey, what's Lily's condition. Does she look okay?"

"It's hard to tell, Jack. Right now she appears to be sleeping. According to the neighbors, she did a lot of crying in the last couple of hours. She probably exhausted herself and fell asleep."

"Do we have a pediatrician on stand by at CTU so she can get immediate medical attention when I bring her in?" Jack asked.

Audrey paused for a long moment. "Jack," she said gently, "don't do this to yourself. CTU has less than 17 minutes to get Lily back alive. You need to prepare yourself in case this operation fails."

"That's not even a consideration, Audrey," Jack snapped. "I need to focus right now. I'm going off comm. I'll let you know when I reach the apartment building." Jack flipped the on-off-standby switch on his communications unit to the off position. He had been shorter with Audrey than necessary, but he couldn't think about that right now. Right now he had to focus on bringing Lily home to Tony.

Curtis' team arrived at the apartment building at nearly the same time as Jack. They were met by LAPD who brought them up to speed on exactly what was going on at the scene.

"We've evacuated this building and the two adjacent buildings," the officer told Jack. "We were ready to go in, but CTU told us to stand down. Something about a possible booby trap."

"That's right, sergeant," Jack told him. "Right now, we need your officers to move all of the evacuees a safe distance away."

"We're in the process of moving them to the high school down the street."

"Good. We also need you to maintain the perimeter. CTU will take over in the apartment building," Jack replied.

Jack and Curtis started up the stairs to the third floor of the three story walk-up. Members of the tac team stood at the top of the stairs awaiting orders. The head of the bomb squad, Shane McIntyre, was already looking over the door and taking tools from a case deciding exactly how to handle the situation.

"Agent Manning," he said. "I think out best bet is to drill a small hole in the wall adjacent to the door and slip in a fiberoptic camera. That way we can get a look at the door and make sure there are no devices attached before we open it."

"Can drilling the wall cause enough vibration to set off the device?" Curtis asked.

"It's unlikely. Theoretically it's possible; but it's unlikely. We really don't have any other choice given our current time constraint."

"Then, go ahead," Curtis said with a sigh.

Jack listened anxiously to the high whine of the drill going through the wallboard.

"We're in," McIntyre announced as he withdrew the long drill bit from the wall. "Give me the camera. I'll feed it through."

The camera was slipped into the narrow opening. It provided a wireless feed to a 7-inch monitor that one of the bomb squad members held for Jack and Curtis to see. As the camera's eye was remotely directed, a view of the inside of the apartment appeared on the monitor. The small space was sparsely furnished, but strewn with dishes and empty pizza boxes and carry out containers. A sweep of the visible room found it deserted.

"Wait a second," Curtis said. "Go back a few feet to the right." He waited for the technician to move the camera back.

"What do you see?" Jack asked.

"The bag on the floor. That bag fits the description of the one that Lily's baby sitter gave to the kidnappers. We've got to go in now." Curtis looked at the bomb squad leader. "Is the door booby trapped?"

"From what I can tell there's nothing on the door that we can trip by opening it. I think we're a go."

"Good. Give me the key," Curtis directed one of his agents who promptly handed him a brass key that the building superintendent had turned over to CTU.

As expected the door opened without incident and the room in front of them appeared free from explosives. Agents carefully entered the room and began to search the two bedroom apartment. The door to one small bedroom was open and a quick search revealed nothing. The second bedroom door was closed and McIntyre stood in front of it looking for clues that it was wired to explode.

"Nothing on the front of the door," he said as he turned toward Curtis and Jack. "I think we have to put a camera in just like we did on the front door."

Curtis and Jack agreed and watched as the squad went through the same steps as the last time.

"Bingo!" McIntyre said sarcastically. "I've got the baby in view. She's sleeping in a crib to the left of the door. Your info was right, Jack. The door itself is booby trapped."

"What do we do now?" Curtis asked him.

"That depends. How much time do I have?"

"Can you see the timer from the camera's vantage point?" Jack asked.

"Negative," answered another agent who was looking at the monitor. "The angle's bad."

"Audrey," Jack said into his comm unit. "Are you still watching the internet feed?"

"Yes, Jack. It looks like you have about six minutes," she answered anxiously.

Jack turned to the bomb squad. "We've got around six minutes. How do you plan to proceed?"

McIntyre shook his head. "I'm not crazy about this idea, but I think it's our only chance at the moment. The explosives are set to detonate if the door is opened. We can try and cut a hole in the door that large enough for someone to crawl through and get the baby. There's some risk that the bomb will detonate when we cut through the door, but I don't have any other solutions."

"How long is that going to take?" Curtis asked.

"At least five minutes."

"That's too much time," Curtis told him.

"That's the best I can do."

"If it takes you five minutes to get through the door, going in to get the baby is virtually a suicide mission. Whoever goes in may be able to hand the baby out, but may not be able to get himself out," Curtis pointed out.

"You're wasting time!" Jack exclaimed. "Cut the door. I'm going in after the baby. Curtis, get every non-essential person out of the building. I'll go in as soon as they cut the opening and I'll hand the baby out. Leave the fastest runner here to take the baby and get the hell out."

"We're not leaving you behind, Jack," Curtis assured him.

"Yes, you are," Jack said sternly and confidently. His tone then softened considerably. "If I can get out, I will. If I can't, at least I know we got Lily back to Tony."

"Jack," Audrey's quivering voice came through into his ear piece. "You can't do this. Jack, please don't do this."

"Get her off of comm, Bill," Jack directed. "Audrey, I love you, but I have to do this."

"Jack, Audrey's right," Bill said. "You don't have to do this. Tony doesn't expect you to give your life trying to save his daughter."

"I don't know what Tony expects, but this is what I'm going to do. I've been in his position. I know how he feels. I lost my wife and my daughter was all that I had left. I understand what it's like to have no reason to live. I don't want Tony to live that way. I've got to go. I need to get ready," Jack said matter-of-factly.

McIntyre and one of his men started cutting through the door using an electric cutting tool. While they were cutting the middle of the door out, two other bomb squad members were outfitting Jack in a helmet and a padded jacket. None of them was kidding themselves. If the bomb went of while Jack was in the room, the helmet and jacket wouldn't provide nearly enough protection.

Jack glanced repeatedly at his watch. "Shane, we're running out of time. Are you almost finished?"

"Almost done, Jack," McIntyre told him. "This hole is small, Jack. Are you sure you can do this? I may have someone smaller that will have an easier time. I couldn't make the opening any bigger. The wood was starting to splinter. I was afraid that if I got any closer to the door frame that it could separate from the frame and that would be enough to detonate the device."

"Don't worry about it, Shane. You did what you could. It'll be fine," Jack said as he looked at the opening that had been created in the once solid door. It wasn't quite as wide as his shoulders and, from top to bottom was only about four feet high. "Now get everybody out of here. Curtis, who's staying behind to take the baby from me?"

"Henry Owens will take the baby. He's the fastest guy I've got. You should see him run the 100 meter dash," Curtis said trying to lighten the moment. "I'll be here to help you out."

"You don't need to wait for me. You should be outside with your team. When Owens comes out with the baby it's up to you to get her back to CTU. Go downstairs. That's an order."

Curtis smiled slightly at him. "I don't take orders for you, Jack. Hurry up. I want to get the hell out of here. Good luck."

Jack nodded his thanks, turned toward the opening and started to step through. "Bill, how much time is left on the timer?"

"Less than 30 seconds, Jack. You need to hurry," Bill responded. The tension was evident in his voice.

"Chloe, I need a favor," Jack said as he turned sideways and wedged a shoulder through the opening.

"Sure, Jack, anything," Chloe said.

"When you see Kim, tell her that I love her."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The word "tense" wasn't adequate to describe the atmosphere at CTU. All remaining personnel stood silently, eyes affixed to the big monitor on the wall which displayed the image of a sleeping Lily Almeida with a bomb under her crib all set to detonate. Through comm they listened to the disembodied voices of Jack Bauer, Curtis Manning and Shane McIntyre who remained behind the door discussing the risks involved in cutting through the door to rescue Lily.

Bill stood with his employees scarcely able to breathe. He was flanked by Chloe and Audrey whom he had asked repeatedly to wait in his office until the operation was over. Bill couldn't imagine a repeat of 18 months earlier when Michelle was watching that same monitor as the car they thought Tony was in exploded. He remembered trying to support Michelle as she collapsed to the floor and, more than anything, he didn't want to relive the scene again with Audrey. Despite his pleas, Audrey remained next to him, her eyes glued to the monitor.

Everyone watched, afraid but unable to look away, as Shane started cutting through the door. The loud, high pitched whine of the cutting tool slicing through the hollow wood door startled Lily from her sleep. She looked confused at first, an emotion quickly replaced by fear. The eight month old gathered up her stuffed rabbit in her arms and huddled near the corner of the crib crying so hard that her little body shook.

The seconds continued to tick by as the opening in the door became larger and the cut panel was removed. From their vantage point, the crowd at CTU was able to see movement through the hole in the door.

"That hole isn't very big for an adult to get through. How does Shane expect Jack to get through there?" Chloe commented as she eyed up the opening.

"If Shane could make it any bigger, he would," Bill retorted. It crossed his mind that he would have loved to send Chloe home hours earlier, but he couldn't afford the loss of her talent when they were stretched as thin as they were.

They watched Jack put one foot through the opening and then wedge his shoulder sideways through. Bill reminded him of the time: 30 seconds. Jack acknowledged and the tension in the room seemed to double. Bill thought it couldn't get any worse but it did when Jack asked Chloe to tell Kim that he loved her. Every heart in the room skipped a beat and tears formed in virtually every eye.

It didn't take Jack more than a few seconds to force himself through the opening in the door, but it seemed an eternity to those watching. Once inside he wasted no time running the three steps to the crib and reaching over the side to haul out the screaming baby complete with the rabbit she clutched in her arms.

"It's okay, Lily," he cooed trying to calm her. "It's okay. It's Uncle Jack. You're going home to Daddy."

"Seventeen seconds, Jack," Bill said trying hard to control the urgency that was creeping into his normally calm voice. "Get the hell out of there."

"I copy," Jack returned as he reached the door and thrust Lily through the opening. "Take her Henry," he told Agent Owens. Once unburdened of the child, Jack started to work his way back through the small opening.

"Give me your hand, Jack," Curtis said urgently.

"Curtis, get out of here," Jack shouted. "They need you downstairs. You need to take Lily back to Tony."

"No, Jack, you need to take Lily back to Tony. Now, give me your hand!" Curtis shouted back.

"Ten seconds!" Bill shouted back at them. "Get out now!"

No one at CTU moved a muscle as they watched Jack's left foot, the last body part left inside of the bedroom, disappear through the door with only two seconds left to spare. The ensuing explosion roared through the comm unit and destroyed the camera. They were left to watch a blank screen while Bill tried to raise a response from the team on site.

"Curtis, Jack, do you read me? Respond, please, Curtis or Jack, please respond!" he shouted to no avail.

"McIntyre, do you read me?" Bill asked.

"Yes, sir," McIntyre replied.

I need a status report," Bill implored. "Where are Owens, Manning and Bauer? What's the status on the baby?"

"Owens is fine and the baby is being checked out by the paramedics. It's just a precaution. She's scared but she doesn't seem to be hurt."

"Thank God!" Bill said softly. "What about Jack and Curtis? What's their status?"

"We don't know yet. They didn't exit the building and I can't safely send my men in. The explosion was incredible. Talk about overkill. It took off the whole wall in front of the bedroom and most of the wall from the floors above and below. I'm not sure that the building is structurally sound enough to send the team in. The fire department is in charge of the inspection. I've made it clear that we have to get men in there ASAP. They're expediting the inspection, but it's going to take a few minutes. Bill, I'm sorry, but realistically, there isn't much chance they survived that explosion," Shane added.

"I copy, McIntyre. Keep us posted."

The air inside of the apartment was gray and filled with smoke and debris. As it began to settle, Jack was able to see a small amount of light shining through what had been the front wall of the building. The explosion had thrown him several feet into a corner near the kitchen. He had hit his head on the wall and had lost consciousness but he didn't think that it had been for very long. The cool night air was rushing into the apartment and the first thought to go through Jack's mind as he started to get his bearings was of Lily Almeida. He wondered who had her and if they were keeping her warm. The light weight clothes she was wearing when he handed her to Henry Owens weren't enough to keep her warm in air that chilly.

Jack heard movement across the room and he remembered that Curtis had been with him when the bomb exploded. "Curtis," Jack called. "Curtis, can you hear me."

"Yeah, Jack. I'm over here," came Curtis' voice from across the room.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked as he struggled to get to his feet.

"I think so. Something fell on my legs and I can't get out from under it."

"Here, let me help," Jack offered. By that time he had found Curtis on the floor trapped under a pressed wood bookcase. The bookcase was heavy, but Jack was able to lift it enough for Curtis to slide out from beneath it. "Can you stand up? Did you break anything?"

Curtis stood with Jack's help. "I did something to my ankle, but I think I can walk on it," he said taking a couple of careful steps.

Jack wrapped an arm around Curtis' back. "Lean on me. I'll help you down the stairs."

Slowly, Jack and Curtis started down the stairs which were clouded by dust. They were grateful that the air began to clear once they were below the third floor making the stairs easier to negotiate. As they got closer to the ground floor and the building exit, the noise of the controlled chaos outside got louder. Police and fire and ambulance sirens wailed and two-way radios blared static filled orders to a dozen different agencies. Over it all, Jack could hear Lily crying. His need to find her and calm her was overwhelming.

"I hear Lily. I hope she's okay," he said as he continued to help Curtis down the last few stairs.

"I can make it the rest of the way myself, Jack. You go ahead and find Lily," Curtis offered.

"Are you sure?" Jack asked him tentatively.

"Yeah, go on. Go check on her," Curtis nodded.

"Thanks, Curtis. Just hold tight. I'll send medics in to help you," Jack told him as he ran down the final six steps and through the front door of the apartment building. Harsh flood lights set up to illuminate the area temporarily blinded him. "I need a medic in here," Jack called once he was outside. "I need a medic."

Everyone turned to the sound of his voice, surprised to see him alive, let alone exiting the building on his own.

"Get a medic for Agent Bauer," McIntyre called over his shoulder.

"Not for me," Jack corrected McIntyre. "It's for Curtis. He probably broke an ankle," he told the approaching medics. "Get him. He's us the steps near the landing."

"Jack, thank God you're safe," McIntyre said extending his hand to Jack. "We thought you two were dead."

"Close, but not quite. We were both thrown clear of the blast." Jack stopped for a moment to drink water that one of the medics had given him. "I hear Lily crying. Where is she?"

McIntyre smiled. "Owens has her. He's watching over her like a hawk. They're over there by the medic's van."

Jack turned and saw Owens awkwardly cradling Lily and doing his best to calm her. "He doesn't know anything about babies, does he?" Jack said. Now he was smiling, too.

"Not a thing. I'd be crying too if someone was bouncing me up and down like that. Why don't you go get her and I'll update CTU."

"Make sure Audrey knows that I'm okay. I'm sure she's worried," Jack instructed McIntyre.

McIntyre picked up his radio as Jack made his way over to Owens. "I'll take her now, Henry," Jack said.

"Agent Bauer, thank goodness you're here. I didn't let her out of my sight, sir. The medic said that she's fine, just a little shook up, I guess, sir. I did my best, but she won't stop crying."

"Let me see what I can do," Jack said as he reached for Lily. "Come here, darlin'" he said softly. "That-a-girl. That's a good girl. Uncle Jack's going to take you back to Daddy, sweetheart. I know you want to see your Daddy. You don't have to cry, honey. Uncle Jack's got you now."

Everyone watching was amazed at how Jack interacted with Lily. His stone cold, tough demeanor melted away as he cooed to the little girl and rocked her. He had her calmed down in a matter of minutes, much to Henry Owens' chagrin.

"Jack," Curtis called out to him from the back of a nearby ambulance. The medics were wrapping up his ankle and getting ready to take him back to CTU. With Lily nestled in his arms, Jack walked over to Curtis so they could talk. "I just spoke with Buchanan. He wants you to transport the baby back to CTU under heavy guard. We don't think Drake will try anything, but we don't want to take the chance. Owens is getting a Hummer ready to roll. Altman is riding shotgun and I've got two armed escorts front and rear. You should be on your way to CTU in about fifteen or twenty minutes."

"Does Tony know that Lily is safe?" Jack asked.

"No, he's still sedated. They were going to wake him up and tell him, but they decided to let him rest. Bill wants you to do the honors when you get back."

"Did you hear that, Lily? You'll be back with Daddy soon," Jack told her.

Lily watched him with wide brown eyes shaded by thick black lashes. She cooed quietly and reached for Jack's nose making him smile. He kissed her small hand. "You look just like your Mommy. Do you know that?" he asked her in a slightly tremulous voice and then waited as if expecting her to respond. "Yes, you do. You look just like her. You're beautiful just like your mother."

Tears filled Jack's eyes and he blinked hard to keep them from slipping down his face. The attempt was unsuccessful and tears made their way down his cheeks, making clean stripes in the soot and dust that had settled on his face. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart," he whispered snuggling Lily a little closer and rocking her from side to side. "I'm so sorry."

Lily liked the attention Jack was giving her and she smiled and cooed oblivious to the fact the her entire world had changed that day, that her life would never be the same and that she would never again see he mother's smiling face peering over her crib.

"Jack, I can take her for a few minutes if you'd like," Curtis offered. "You can get cleaned up a little over in the staging area we set up in the next building. You don't want to go back to Audrey all covered with soot, do you?" he asked trying to lighten the moment.

"Thanks, Curtis. I would like a chance to clean up," Jack agreed as he swiped a hand across his face further smearing the dust and tears. He leaned forward to hand Lily over to Curtis whose arms were outstretched to take her, but Lily clung to Jack's shirt and began to cry.

"Uh-oh," Curtis said. "I think somebody's gotten attached to you, Jack."

"I think you're right." Jack smiled quite obviously pleased with Lily's response to him. "I'll just take her with me over to the staging area. We'll figure something out when I get there."

Jack crossed the street to the staging area where he managed to strip off the filthy jacket he was wearing, wash his face and rinse his hair in the sink all while holding Lily who would not let anyone else so much as lay a hand on her. Even several female agents and medics tried to hold her to no avail. Each time Jack put her in someone else's arms she screamed and Jack simply couldn't stand to hear her cry, not after all she had been through. So, he shifted her from arm to arm and eventually managed to clean up both himself and Lily who had picked up a fair amount of soot from just clinging to Jack.

"You don't want your Daddy to see you all dirty, do you?" Jack asked her as he washed her face with a warm wash cloth. "See how pretty you are now," he said as he held her up in a mirror. "All ready to go back to Daddy."

Henry Owens walked in while Jack was playing some kind of "See the Baby" game in the mirror. He shook his head still not understanding how Jack could make her stop crying when his attempts had been useless. "Jack, you ready to go?" he asked. "Here are her things," Henry said. He smiled at the sight as he handed Jack a big pink shoulder bag and without the slightest concern to how odd it looked, Jack slung it over his shoulder and fell in step next to Owens.

A half hour later, Owens pulled the Hummer on the CTU parking lot and swung it around so the car was just feet from a side entrance. Through the window Jack could see Audrey waiting anxiously just inside of the door; she opened it and stepped out as soon as she saw the Hummer with its escorts approaching. By the time Henry brought the vehicle to a complete stop, Audrey had her hand on the door handle ready to help Jack out.

"Oh, Jack," she cried as he stepped from the car. "I was so scared. I thought you were dead."

Jack reached for her with his free arm. He pulled her as close as he could and he kissed her. "I'm sorry, honey. I never meant to scare you, but I had to go in there and get her. Look at her. How could I walk away and not at least try. How would I have explained that to Tony? How would I have lived with myself?"

"She's beautiful," Audrey said getting a good look at Lily. "She looks like a Hispanic version of Michelle. Let's get her inside. It's chilly out here."

"Do you know if Tony's awake?" Jack asked as they entered the building.

Audrey shook her head. "I called medical before I came out here to wait for you. The nurse said he was still sleeping soundly. She thought he should start waking up in the next half hour or so. The doctor had to give him a pretty high dose of sedative to calm him down. His blood pressure was going up and they were afraid that he could have a stroke. So they gave him something to sedate him and also meds to bring the blood pressure back down. The doctor said sometimes those medications add to the sedation," she told Jack as they approached the medical unit. "In the meantime, you can have the doctor examine her."

Now it was Jack's turn to shake his head. "No, she was checked out at the scene and she's fine. She's been fussy for the last fifteen minutes or so. I think she's getting hungry. I'm going to take her up to Buchanan's office and give her a bottle."

Jack walked past medical and into the bullpen where he was met with smiles and congratulations from everyone. He continued through and up the stairs to Bill's office where Bill and Chloe completed more reports for District. Bill stood up from his seated position behind the desk as Jack climbed the stairs. He and Chloe both gasped quietly as Jack entered the office.

"She looks just like Michelle," Chloe said stating the obvious as if no one else had noticed.

"She's beautiful," Bill whispered. His eyes instantly filled with tears as he could no longer deny the fact that Michelle, whom he had dearly loved, was in fact gone. Her lovely daughter brought home the reality that he would never see Michelle's stunning face again. Bill cleared his throat of the lump that had formed. "I'll call medical and see if Tony's awake."

"Audrey called a few minutes ago and he was still sleeping," Jack informed him. "That works out fine. She's hungry so I'll go ahead and feed and change her."

"Here, I'll help," Chloe said reaching for Lily.

As she had been doing all evening, Lily cried immediately when someone other than Jack tried to take care of her. Jack drew her back protectively against his body.

"That's okay. I can handle this," he said.

"I don't get it," Chloe said in an annoyed tone. "Babies usually like me. What's her problem?"

"We've bonded, that's all," Jack told her looking quite proud of himself. "Isn't that right, Lily? You know that Uncle Jack will take good care of you until Daddy can do it himself."

"Uncle Jack!" hooted Chloe. "How much dust did you inhale in that explosion? It apparently affected your brain."

Jack ignored her and proceeded to kneel on the carpet in front of Bill's desk. He opened the pink bag and pulled out a blanket which he laid on the floor. "Here you go, darlin'," he said to Lily. "Lay down here and Uncle Jack will get you some clean clothes and a clean diaper. Here, Chloe," he said handing her a bottle from the bag. "Warm this up. I'll bet she doesn't like room temperature bottles. Don't get it too hot. Body temperature is good."

Audrey and Bill exchanged bemused glances as Chloe stomped away. Only Jack could give her an order like that and have her do it without voicing her displeasure. Her displeasure was clear to be sure, but she would never voice it in front of Jack. Their amusement turned to surprise as they watched Jack strip the baby of her clothes and diaper, clean her up with baby wipes and deftly replace the diaper with a clean one. He then dug a clean sleeper out of the pink bag.

"Jack," Bill started. "I thought you might like to know, CTU got a lead on Angus Drake about an hour ago. A tac unit stormed his location and arrested him within the last ten minutes. Among other things, he'll be charged with Lily's kidnapping and attempted murder. The federal prosecutor's office is also planning to charge him with Michelle's murder, the attempt on Tony's life and conspiracy in the assassination of David Palmer. Drake won't see the light of day in this lifetime."

Jack listed to Bill and nodded grimly. He knew from personal experience that families of victims talked about justice and closure but he knew that it did nothing to fill the void that was left. Having Angus Drake off the street was going to mean that he couldn't hurt anyone again but it didn't bring Michelle back or erase Tony's anguish over the hours that his child was missing. Justice was important to society but to the family it was terribly hollow.

Chloe returned with the bottle just as Jack finished dressing Lily.

"Is this the right temperature," she asked with only a hint of exasperation in her voice.

Jack turned the bottle over and squirted a few drops of the formula on his wrist. "It could be a little warmer, but she's pretty hungry. I think she'll drink it." Lily was already eyeing up the bottle and struggling to get to it.

"Oh, you want that, don't you, darlin'," Jack said smiling at her. "Come here. Let's sit here." Jack carried her over to Bill's big leather desk chair and sat down as if it were his own. (It had, in fact, been his desk chair a few years earlier.) Jack settled into the chair and held the bottle so that Lily could direct it into her mouth. She settled back into the crook of Jack's arm and drank contentedly.

"Audrey, could you check Lily's bag and see if there's a book in there. She needs a bedtime story."

Audrey rolled her eyes slightly and opened up the bag. "Let's see. She has _Good Night, Moon_ or _The Very Hungry Caterpillar,_" she said as she held up the books.

"_Good Night, Moon_ was one of Kim's favorites. I'll take that one," Jack said reaching for the book. He held the book in one hand angled so that Lily could see the pictures. "In the great green room there was a telephone…" he read.

Lily watched him and looked at the book and sucked on her bottle. Audrey, Bill and Chloe all became teary eyed as they watched the two of them together. Jack's love and devotion for Lily was as great as it was to his own daughter. He adored the little girl he had only met a little over an hour earlier.

Lily had almost finished her bottle when Bill's office phone rang.

"Buchanan," he said a he hit the speaker button.

"Mr. Buchanan, the doctor wanted me to let you know that Mr. Almeida is starting to stir."

"Thank you. Jack Bauer will be right down with the baby." Bill looked at Jack. "Are you ready?"

Jack held up an empty bottle. "What do you say, Lily? Are you ready to go see Daddy?" Jack set the bottle and the book on Bill's desk and lifted Lily up to his shoulder. He patted her back gently a few times and she burped right on cue. "Okay, now you're ready for Daddy," Jack said kissing her forehead.

Jack carried Lily to the medical unit and made his way back to Tony's room. Jack knocked lightly on the door and entered without waiting for a response. Tony was sleeping as Jack stepped into the room. Lily immediately caught sight of her father and began cooing excitedly.

"Tony," Jack said quietly. "Tony, wake up. It's Jack. I've got someone here to see you." Jack shook Tony's shoulder gently. "Tony, wake up."

Tony's eyes opened slowly. His gaze immediately fell on Lily who Jack was holding just above his chest.

"Oh, Lily! Thank God you're alright," he cried as he reached up for her and pulled her down onto his chest. He kissed her over and over and Lily delighted in the attention squealing and giggling happily. "I didn't know what I was going to do without you, Lily. Mommy's gone, sweetheart. It's just you and me now," Tony explained as if Lily understood. "But we've got each other and we're going to make it somehow, Lily. That's a promise. That's what Mommy would want."

Lily lay on Tony's chest and watched him suddenly seeming to understand the gravity of his words. She had stopped giggling as soon as she realized that he wasn't in a playful mood like he usually was. They looked at each other for a long moment before Lily put her head down on Tony's check and closed her eyes. Her little hand closed around the top of his tee shirt as if to prevent anyone from pulling her away from her beloved father and soon she was asleep. Her long frightening day was finally over and she was safely in her father's arms.

Tony looked up at Jack, tears still streaking his face. "I don't know how you did it, Jack," he said softly so as not to wake Lily. "I don't know how you did it, but I know you worked some kind of miracle to bring her back to me. I'll never forget it. I'll be grateful forever, Jack. I don't know how to thank you enough."

"You don't have to thank me. It's over now and Lily's safe. All I want is to see the two of you put your lives back together. I know what it feels like to lose your wife. Nothing can prepare you for it, Tony. And nothing anyone says or does is going to make it any easier. I just want to make sure that you don't do what I did. Don't crawl into a cocoon. Don't shut everyone out. Let your friends help."

Tony nodded. "I'm going to need help," he admitted as he looked down at his sleeping daughter. "I'm going to need a lot of help."

_Author's note: Thanks for sticking with me to this point. I wasn't crazy about this chapter and I revised it more than once but I still can't get the feel that I'm looking for. At any rate, I decided to post it as is. If anyone has suggestions to improve the chapter, I'll entertain them. I have one more chapter, the epilogue, to go. With Christmas just around the corner, I'm not sure how much writing time I'll get. I'm hoping to post the final chapter before Christmas, but I won't guarantee it. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll consider any and all reviews as early Christmas presents!_


	7. Epilogue

_Author's note: Hi and thanks again to all who have read and reviewed this story. I had intended to finish this and have it posted by Christmas Eve, but, you know… Somehow it never got done. So here it is a little late, but hopefully it was worth waiting for. I put a bit of a twist in this chapter that I think some of you will like, but some of you are not going to be happy with it. (I suspect that AlmeidaFluff will never speak to me again!) I was looking for a reasonably happy way to end a story that was bittersweet. See what you think and let me know. I'll be interested to see everyone's reaction._

EPILOGUE: THREE YEARS LATER

"Okay, Lily, which do you want the peaches or the plums?" Tony asked as he looked over the fruit at the farmers' market.

"Peaches!" Lily shouted. She stood on her toes to try and see the display of peaches.

"Peaches! You always want peaches," Tony replied. His voice was animated and playful. "Why do you like peaches so much?" he asked as he scooped the three-and-a-half year old into his arms and held her up at eye level.

"Because they're fuzzy like a kitty," Lily answered as she pressed her nose against her father's. "Kiwi's are fuzzy, too and I like them, too!" she added hoping to get both kiwi fruit and peaches during this week's trip to the farmers' market.

Tony laughed and set her down. "Okay, help me pick out some nice peaches and then we'll go and get kiwi."

This was their usual Saturday routine. Tony and Lily would get up and go to the farmers' market and pick up produce for the week. It was a simple outing, but it had become special to both father and daughter. After buying produce the two would go out to lunch. On nice days like the current one, they would go to a nearby park and get hotdogs from a street vendor and then spend the afternoon playing in the park.

Tony was showing Lily how to pick out a ripe peach when he heard a voice behind him.

"Tony? Tony Almeida, is that you?"

Tony knew the voice instantly and turned toward it. "Audrey! Audrey, what are you doing here?" he asked as he hugged her and they exchanged a friendly kiss. "Is that Sam? Wow, has he gotten big! He looks just like Jack."

Tony dropped to one knee to peer at the almost two year old sitting in the stroller. Samuel Taylor Coleridge Bauer had been named for his father's favorite poet. Jack, who had been an English major at UCLA, could recite long passages of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and other Coleridge poems.

"Look at Lily," Audrey said. "She isn't exactly a baby any more."

"I'm not a baby. I'm three-and-a-half," Lily said with authority.

Audrey laughed and ruffled Lily's curly hair. "This is such a surprise. What are you two doing in DC?"

"We moved here about 15 months ago," Tony explained. "I had the opportunity to merge my computer business with a larger company in Maryland. It made sense for me. I was working too many hours when I was the sole proprietor of the business. This way I work an eight hour day and I have more time for Lily."

"That's great. Is your dad still helping you out?" Audrey asked.

"Yeah, he moved here with us. I don't think he really wanted to leave southern California, but he agreed that the move was best for Lily and me and he wanted to go with us. He's like a mother hen with Lily. I don't know what I'd do without him."

Tony's father had been widowed for over ten years and had been living in San Diego with his oldest daughter, Natalie. When Michelle was killed, he moved to LA to help Tony out for a few months. Eventually the move became permanent.

"When did you move back to DC?" Tony asked Audrey.

"I must have moved shortly after you did. It's been about 13 months. I tried to stay in LA, but I just couldn't. I thought Sam and I would be happier here near my father." Audrey explained.

"Daddy, are we going to buy some kiwi fruit?" Lily interrupted the grown up conversation.

"In a minute, sweetie," Tony said. He turned to Audrey. "We're going to finish up here in a couple of minutes and then we're going to the park across the street. We usually get lunch from either the hot dog vendor or the deli down the street. Then we eat at the park and we play for a while. Would you and Sam like to join us?"

"We'd love to, Tony. Sam loves that park. Why don't we both finish our shopping, pick up lunch and then meet at the duck pond in about a half hour."

"Sounds great. It's really good to see you Audrey."

Tony and Lily parted company from Audrey and Sam temporarily but met back up as planned about a half hour later. Tony had a picnic blanket in the back of his car which he set up near the duck pond. He was just unwrapping a sandwich and opening a bottle of juice for Lily when Audrey pushed Sam's strolled to the edge of the blanket.

They ate and tried to catch up over lunch. Lily and Sam ate as quickly as possible so that they could go and play.

"Daddy, can I go to the sandbox?" Lily asked as she grabbed the handle on a mesh bag of sandbox toys. "I could take Sam with me. I'll share my toys."

The enormous sandbox was just a few feet away and in clear view of Tony and Audrey. "It's okay with me if it's okay with you, Audrey"

"It's fine," Audrey agreed. "We can watch them from here."

Lily dragged the sandbox toys along side of her with one hand and held Sam's hand with her free one as they made their way to the sandbox.

Tony and Audrey smiled as they watched.

"She's like a little mother," Audrey commented.

"It's kind of strange since she doesn't remember her mother," Tony noted. "And you remember my dad, don't you. The man isn't exactly warm and fuzzy. He loves Lily to death but he doesn't coddle her. If anyone does that it's me and I'm really not with her as much as Dad is. Sometimes I worry that there isn't a female influence in her life, but she's got a real feminine streak. She can be kind of rough and tumble, but she has her girly moments, too," he added.

The two fell silent as they watched their children play. Sam picked out a shovel and filled a bucket with sand. Once full he promptly knocked it over and started the process again until he became interested in a small dump truck that was among Lily's toys.

Tony finally broke the silence. "Audrey, I tried to keep in touch with you. I called you more than once before I moved. You never returned my calls."

"I know, Tony. I'm sorry." Audrey sighed. "I don't know how to explain. I guess I shut everyone out. You know, it's been almost 18 months and when I close my eyes every night, I can still see you and Bill at my front door." She shook her head. "Does it ever go away?"

Tony smiled softly and touched her arm. "You never forget, but it gets easier, Audrey. I promise that it gets easier."

Tony remembered that day as clearly as Audrey did. He had just eaten lunch and put Lily down for a nap. His father was cleaning up the lunch dishes and Tony had returned to the desk in his office to take care of some phone messages that had been left during lunch. He had put his hand on the phone just as it rang. He glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Bill Buchanan calling. He didn't think much of it at the time. CTU had contracted with him for several computer projects and he knew that there were several more to be done. He imagined that Bill was calling to ask him to submit a bid.

"Almeida," he answered the phone out of pure force of habit.

"Tony, it's Bill." Tony noticed immediately that Bill's tone was flat and quiet. "Tony, I have some bad news. It's about Jack." Bill paused for a moment and Tony was instantly filled with dread. "Field ops had a lead on a terrorist cell this morning. The intel was bad. The cell was a lot bigger than we thought. Our guys were simply outgunned. We were lucky, if you can call it that. Jack is our only serious casualty."

"Is he alive?" Tony asked fearing the worst.

"He is right now, but the doctor's don't think he's going to make it. They're trying to keep him alive until we can get Audrey to the hospital. I know how close you are to Jack and Audrey. I was hoping that you could go with me and talk to her. She'll need someone to take her to the hospital and stay with her. I've already called Secretary Heller. He'll be on a plane as soon as possible. She'll need someone here in the meantime."

Tony swallowed hard. Jack was his best friend. Jack had saved Lily's life and he had forced Tony to face his future after Michelle was killed. Without Jack, Tony feared that he would be lying face down, drunk in some gutter right now and that Lily would be living with his sister or his father. Instead, with Jack's help, he had put his life back together. He missed Michelle every minute of every day, but at least he was able to work and take care of his daughter and live a somewhat normal life.

"Of course, Bill. I don't want Audrey to be alone. Did you want me to meet you at Jack's house?"

"Actually, I'm on my way now and I'm just a couple of miles from your place. I'll pick you up."

Tony agreed and a short time later he and Bill stood on Audrey's porch ringing the door bell. The moment she saw the two of them standing there, she knew that it was bad.

"No," she whispered as she opened the door. She was holding six-month-old Sam in her arms and she clutched him protectively. "No, please, no. Not Jack. Please, God, no. Tell me he's okay," she sobbed without either of them even saying a word.

Audrey's knees buckled and both Tony and Bill reached out to stop her from falling. Tony took the baby from her as Bill helped her to a chair.

"We have to get to the hospital, Audrey. His condition is critical." Somehow that sounded nicer than saying that Jack was dying. "Do you have someone who can watch Sam?"

She nodded. "My neighbor, Annie. She's right next door," Audrey pointed numbly to the house on the left.

Bill went and got the neighbor and then he and Tony took Audrey to the hospital. Jack died shortly after they arrived at the hospital. He didn't open his eyes or regain consciousness, but Audrey was sure that he had squeezed her hand slightly when she kissed him.

"When I married Jack I knew that he was a field agent," Audrey said gazing somewhere into the horizon. "And no matter how hard he tried to get out of that role, it was the one he loved the most. We both knew what the dangers were and I thought I could handle it, Tony, I really did. I told myself that every day that I spent with Jack was precious and that if he died I could live with that. It was better than never having him at all. I'd lived through his 'death' once, I could certainly do it again, right?" She paused for a moment and Tony remained silent. "I didn't realize how wrong I was. It was different this time and I just fell apart. I did exactly what Jack refused to let you do. I crawled into a cocoon and kept everyone at arms length. I couldn't even look at Sam without crying. Thank God my father stuck by me. He came out to LA and he planned to stay with me for the first few months. Once it became clear to him that he couldn't move back to DC and leave me alone with Sam in LA, he insisted that I move back here to live with him. He virtually raised Sam for almost a year. I was useless. Everyone thought that Jack and I were opposites but we reacted to being widowed in exactly the same way. Kind of ironic, isn't it?"

"Jack's death hit me hard, too," Tony said softly. "He was the best friend I ever had. He convinced David Palmer to pardon me. He saved Lily's life. I owe him everything that I've got right now. That was another reason that I left LA. Everywhere I went I kept being reminded of all I'd lost there. I decided it was time to move on."

"I'd give almost anything to have him back," Audrey said with a soft laugh. "You know, he was the most exasperating man in the world and he was hard as hell to live with," she smiled. "But I loved him and he loved me. And, we were happy."

Tony laughed, too. "I didn't even have to live with him and I knew how hard he was to get along with! And, I'll admit, I had my doubts that you two were right for each other, but somehow you made it work."

"The worst part is that he'll never see Sam grow up. He was so proud of him and he loved him so much. I hate it that Sam won't ever remember him. How about Lily? What do you do to make sure that she knows who her mother is?"

Tony shrugged and shook his head. "I'm not sure that she understands. We talk about Michelle and she knows that 'Mommy's in heaven', but she's only 3 and a half. I'm not sure she understands any of that. We keep a picture of her with Michelle on her nightstand and every night she says 'Goodnight, Mommy', but I'm not sure what any of that really means to Lily. She knows that other little girls have mothers and that she doesn't. It doesn't seem to concern her at this point. What it comes down to, Audrey, is I do the best that I can and know that's all Michelle would expect from me. It took me a couple of years to get to that point and accept the fact that no matter what I do, Lily will never really know Michelle. It's the same way with Sam. You let him know how much Jack loved him and that's the best you can do. That's all Jack would have ever expected you to do."

"I guess you're right," Audrey agreed. "I just haven't reached that point yet."

"Daddy," Lily called as she abandoned Sam in the sandbox and ran to where Tony and Audrey were sitting. "Can we go to the swings now? Sam wants to go, too."

Tony smiled at her. Somehow he doubted that Sam had said a word about going to the swings. "Oh, Sam wants to swing, too?"

Lily looked down at her feet for a second realizing that she had just gotten caught making up a story. "Well, I think he would like to swing."

Tony looked at Audrey. "What do you think?"

"I'm sure Sam would like to swing for a little while, but it's almost nap time. We should probably be going home."

"Please don't go," Lily begged. "We're having fun."

"I know you are, honey, but Sam isn't going to be much fun when he gets tired and cranky. I'll tell you what. Next Saturday is Sam's second birthday. Would you like to come to his party?"

"Can I go, Daddy? Can I go?" Lily asked anxiously.

"I think we can arrange it," Tony told her.

"Yea!" Lily shouted as she jumped up and down. "I'm gonna tell Sam!" Lily turned and ran back to the sandbox where Sam was still crawling around with cars and dump trucks.

"Thanks, Audrey. That was nice of you to invite her. She'll like that."

"You and your father are invited, too. It's nothing big, just some family and friends. It's at my father's house. I'll give you the address," Audrey said as she dug a pen and paper out of her bag.

With Sam and Audrey on their way home and all of the toys picked up and returned to their bag, Lily and Tony decided that they wanted ice cream before they headed home. The two walked hand in hand to the ice cream parlor that was just down the street.

"Sam has a nice mommy," Lily stated rather matter of factly. "I like her."

"That's good. I'm glad you like her," Tony replied.

"Where is Sam's daddy? Will he be at Sam's birthday party?"

"Sam's daddy is in heaven just like Mommy."

Lily stopped and looked up at her father. "Wow! They're in heaven together? That's nice. That means that they both have a friend in heaven. Sometimes I wondered if Mommy was lonely in heaven without you and me, but now I know she has a friend there. I'm glad she has a friend, Daddy. Now I won't have to worry about her any more."

Tony smiled at her. He wasn't sure what to say to her or if he needed to say anything at all. He was, as usual, amazed at how her mind worked. She had never expressed any concern that her mother was lonely in heaven, nor, Tony hoped, had he ever given her any reason to fear that.

Lily tugged on Tony's hand interrupting his thoughts. "Daddy, can we get our ice cream now? I'm tired and I'm ready to go home and see Pop-Pop. I want to tell him about Sam's birthday party."

"Sure, pumpkin," Tony agreed. "What flavor are you getting?"

The Washington DC spring progressed into a hot, humid summer followed by a warmer than usual fall. Tony's and Lily's Saturday outing to the farmers' market and the park or some other fun venue now included Audrey and Sam on a regular basis. In addition to Saturdays, the foursome would occasionally get together during the week to take in a children's movie or other event.

"I can't wait 'til tomorrow, Daddy," Lily announced as she climbed out of the bathtub and into the warm, fluffy towel that Tony had draped over his arms.

Tony enveloped her in the towel and began drying her off. "Oh, yeah?" What's so special about tomorrow?" Tony asked as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

"You know, Daddy!" Lily said amazed that her father could have forgotten something so important. "We're going to see the Halloween show."

"Oh, that's right!" Tony agreed as if suddenly remembering that they had tickets to a local children's theater company production of a Halloween play. "Now I remember. Sam and Audrey are going, too, aren't they?"

"Of course they're going," Lily said without hesitation. "They're our best friends. We can't go without them."

Tony finished drying Lily off and getting her dressed. She brushed her teeth and kissed Pop-pop goodnight twice before Tony finally tucked her into bed.

"Good night, Daddy," she said kissing her father's cheek. Then she waved and blew a kiss at the framed photograph on her nightstand. "Good night, Mommy. I love you."

Tony turned off the light and, as he did every night, he stared at his beautiful daughter in the glow of the night light and thanked Michelle silently for giving her to him. Lily was all that mattered to him in the world. She was his sun and his moon and his stars. Any modicum of joy that existed in his life was provided by Lily. She was his only reason to live. He leaned over and kissed her again before leaving the bedroom to relax for a little while before he, too, went to bed.

Tony walked into the kitchen just as his father finished cleaning up.

"Good dinner, Dad," Tony complimented his father as he poured coffee into his Cubs mug. "That was Mom's recipe for pot roast, wasn't it?"

"Sure was. That woman could certainly cook," Roberto Almeida, or Bert to his friends, said with a smile. "I've been looking for that recipe for over a year and I couldn't find it. I finally called Natalie and she had it."

Tony laughed. "I bet Mom looks down at you and she's amazed to see you cooking and cleaning and raising a little girl."

Tony's father had been a beat cop in Chicago for thirty years. In all that time Tony didn't think he had cooked dinner more than a dozen times. He had been a wonderful father but he hadn't been terribly involved in the day to day maintenance of his five children. He had been there for all of the important events, but never had to concern himself with picking them up from school or running them to baseball practice. He had rarely changed a diaper or given a bath. All of that was changed when he moved in with Tony after Michelle's death. Bert suddenly found himself in the role of "mother" and he took it on willingly. He pulled out all of Eleanor's old recipes and tried to bring a semblance of normalcy back into Tony's and Lily's lives. Tony found it comforting and was grateful to his father for giving up his retirement in San Diego to take care of them.

"Well anything I know about cooking or cleaning or raising children I learned from your mother. So I hope she'd approve of the job I'm doing."

"She'd more than approve. She's proud of you, Dad. I know she is," Tony said as he patted his father's shoulder. "Don't forget. You don't have to make dinner tomorrow night. Audrey and I are taking the kids out to eat before the play."

"I've got a better idea. Why don't you two leave the kids with me and you and Audrey go out to a nice dinner and a movie."

"You mean like a date?" Tony asked.'

"Yeah, like a date. I was beginning to think you forgot what those were."

"Why would I want to take Audrey out on a date?"

"Because you're both young and single and she's a beautiful woman who shares all kinds of interests with you," he father told him.

"I'm not 'single.' I'm 'widowed.' There's a difference. 'Single' suggests that I've never been married and that I'm looking for a wife. 'Widowed' means that I was married once. I found the love of my life, Dad, and she was taken away from me. There's no point in trying to recreate that."

"No one is telling you to try and recreate what you and Michelle had, son. I'm just suggesting that you've spent enough time alone."

"It's been twelve years since Mom died and I don't see you going out on dates and looking for a wife."

"The situation is a little different, don't you think? I'm 75 years old. I shared the prime of my life with your mother and we raised our children together. You're spending the prime of your life dwelling on what could have been and trying to raise your child alone. You need to move on, Tony. I know how much you loved Michelle…"

"No, Dad. Not loved in the past tense, love in the present tense. I still love Michelle," Tony interjected.

"I understand, son. I still love your mother, but I also understand that she's gone and she's not coming back. You know, we had lots of plans for our old age, too. We wanted to travel and spend time with our friends and our children. It just wasn't in the cards and I've learned to live with that. There's no point sitting around thinking about how happy we would be if your mother was still alive. I'm not saying that it doesn't cross my mind occasionally. Especially when Lily does something cute and I think, 'Gee, I wish Eleanor were here. That would have made her smile.' But overall, I don't dwell on it. You need to do the same thing. I know it's hard. _Believe me_, I know, but you have to do it. Lily needs a mother. Look at the way she clings to Audrey when they're together. I love that child as much as I loved any of my own, but I can't be her mother. And you need some companionship. As much as I'd like to think that I'm all that you and Lily need, I'm not. You both need a woman in your life and Audrey is perfect for you; you just choose not to see that."

"I'm reasonably happy with my life right now, Dad, and I wish you'd leave me alone about it. The three of us do fine together. And, if I do say so myself, I think we do a pretty good job with Lily. I appreciate it that Audrey steps in and pinch hits as a mother-figure for Lily on occasion. Audrey's a wonderful person and I enjoy spending time with her and Sam, but romance is the furthest thing from either of our minds."

"Maybe it shouldn't be. Maybe you should let it come to the forefront for a change, Tony. I think it would do you a world of good." Bert picked up his coffee and took a sip. "I've said my peace, son. I won't bring it up again, but I wish you would at least think about what I said."

Bert didn't wait for his son to respond. He knew Tony too well. Tony had listened to what he had to say and hadn't put up much objection, but in the end he was going to ignore every bit of advice that his father had given him.

What Tony would never have guessed as he watched his father pick up the newspaper and settle into his favorite chair was that a similar conversation had taken place more than once ten miles away at the house Jim Heller shared with his daughter and grandson. It would usually start with Jim suggesting that Audrey invite Tony over for dinner. "I'll take Sam out for a few hours and you two can have some time alone."

"What are you suggesting, Dad?" Audrey would ask. "Are you trying to fix me up with Tony?"

"Is that such a bad idea?" Jim would retort. "Do you want to be alone forever, Audrey?"

"I'm 35 years old and have been widowed twice. I'm a bad marriage risk," Audrey would say only half joking.

"You need to let yourself fall in love again. It would do you good," Jim would tell her.

"Jack's barely been gone two years," Audrey argued. "Mom was gone for at least five years before you went out on a date. Any you didn't date anyone seriously until recently when you and Eileen started seeing each other. Don't tell me it's time for me to move on when it took you years to move on."

"The only reason it took me this long to move on is that I didn't find the right person until now. You've got the right person. You just won't admit it!"

"Dad, Tony and I are friends and that's it. I'll admit that we're good friends, but nothing more."

"Suit yourself, Audrey, but I don't want to hear you complain if he starts dating other women." Jim would shake his head and walk away knowing that this was not a battle worth fighting.

Despite their fathers' attempts at playing Cupid, nothing changed in Tony's and Audrey's relationship. And when Thanksgiving rolled around just three weeks later, the two families celebrated the holiday together. Jim and his girlfriend, Eileen, hosted the dinner at Jim's large, suburban DC home. Sam and Lily managed to wolf down dinner in mere minutes so that they could go to Sam's playroom and play. The adults, on the other hand, relished the quiet at the table and lingered over dessert and after dinner drinks.

Jim Heller was pouring everyone a glass of port wine when the subject of Christmas arose.

"What kind of plans do you three have for Christmas?" Jim asked Tony. "Are you going to the west coast?"

"I am," Bert answered. "I'm going to see Natalie for a couple of weeks."

"Lily and I decided to stay here this year," Tony said.

"Isn't that going to be kind of lonely?" Jim asked.

"That's what I told him," Bert interjected.

"We'll do okay," Tony said somewhat defensively.

"Why don't you join us?" Jim asked.

"We'd love to come over for dinner. Thanks for inviting us," Tony said.

"Actually, Eileen and I have a group of friends that goes to Vermont every year for Christmas. They want us to join them. Eileen already has a reservation in the hotel. I was thinking about renting a three bedroom cabin for the rest of us. There would be plenty of room for you and Lily."

"Jim, that's awfully generous of you, but I don't know…"

"Think about it, Tony," Audrey interrupted. "It'd be fun. They decorate the place for Christmas. Every cabin has a Christmas tree and a fireplace. We can go skiing and ice skating. They have sleigh rides. It'll be a real old fashioned New England Christmas. The kids will love it."

"I don't know," Tony said again. "Lily and I were just planning a quiet day."

"You can have a quiet day any day of the year, Tony," Jim told him. "Christmas is a celebration. Why don't you come with us? We're flying up on the 22nd."

"I'll have to talk to Lily about it. I don't want to say 'yes' if she isn't interested."

Tony wasn't sure why he was so wary of making this trip. He had originally decided to stay home because travel to the west coast was so difficult during the holidays. Lily hated all of the time spent in the airport followed by a seven hour flight and more waiting at the other end as they picked up luggage and fought the traffic on the highway. When they made the decision to stay home Tony worried that Christmas with just he and Lily might be too quiet. Very quiet moments usually resulted in him having too much time to think and, of course, his thoughts always reverted back to his life with Michelle. Christmas alone with Lily, especially if Audrey and Sam were in Vermont, could become a sad and lonely day.

Vermont, on the other hand, sounded intriguing. It was just a couple hour flight and would be a much easier trip. Besides that, Tony loved to ski and had wanted to teach Lily to ski, also. This was the perfect chance. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. Tony approached Lily who was sitting in the family room watching a movie with Sam.

"Hey, honey," he said as he sat down beside her. "I've got a question for you. I know we were planning on staying home for Christmas, but Sam and Audrey are going away from Christmas and they asked us to go with them. They're going to a ski lodge. There'll be lots of snow and I could take you skiing. I know you've wanted to go skiing with me. Would you like to go?"

Lily looked at Tony for a long moment. "Will we have to fly?"

"We will have to fly, but it isn't a long flight like when we go to Aunt Natalie's. I would just be an hour or so."

"Will Santa Claus know where we are?"

Tony smiled. "I'll let Santa Claus know that we'll be in Vermont so he can deliver your presents there. Maybe Santa could just deliver a couple of small presents to Vermont and then leave the rest here. That way you can open up the rest when we get home." The practical side of Tony remembered that he didn't want to have to drag all of Lily's presents to and from Vermont on a plane.

Lily still seemed unsure. "As long as Santa knows where we are and Sam and Audrey will be there, I guess it would be okay. You promise that you'll teach me to ski?"

"I promise," Tony said as he kissed her.

"Okay, then I want to go," Lily told him brightly.

Tony went back to the living room. "Well, I guess it's settled. Lily wants to go and so do I. It looks like we'll be spending Christmas in Vermont."

Jim and Bert exchanged furtive glances. They had been discussing this for weeks. Both were set on getting their children together and so far their plan was going swimmingly.

December flew by and before they knew it, Christmas was right around the corner. Tony and Lily took Bert to the airport on the 20th for his trip to San Diego. And three days later, they were at the airport again only this time they were the ones boarding the plane. Audrey and Sam had flown to Vermont the day before with Jim and his girlfriend.

Jim was waiting at the airport when Lily and Tony arrived. Although it wasn't snowing, there was already a foot-and-a-half of snow on the ground and the Vermont wind was whipping show flakes all around them. Lily giggled and tried to catch the flakes on her tongue as they hauled their luggage to Jim's car. There hadn't been any snow to date in Washington DC and Lily was thrilled to see the landscape covered in white.

Soon they reached the ski lodge and met up with Audrey and Sam. Audrey had the rest of the day planned out with one outdoor activity after another. Lily got her first try on skis that afternoon and proved to be a natural just like Tony. She was soon swooshing down the bunny slope in her pink ski suit and pint sized skis. The cold air tired everyone out and bedtime came earlier than usual. The early bedtime meant that the kids were up earlier than usual on Christmas Eve and couldn't wait to get out into the white powder. Again much of their day was spent outside and despite a nap in the afternoon, everyone was tired after dinner.

"So what are you planning for this evening?" Jim asked Audrey and Tony.

"The kids are beat," Audrey noted as Sam yawned and rubbed his eyes. "I was thinking maybe we could just take a sleigh ride and relax."

"That sounds like a nice idea," Jim agreed. "Eileen's friends are having a party in the hotel. If you don't mind, I was going to spend the evening with them."

"No, we don't mind," Audrey assured him. "Go and have a good time."

With dinner complete, Jim and Eileen kissed Sam and Lily goodnight and made their way to the private party. Tony and Audrey gathered up the kids and headed toward the back of the lodge where the horse drawn sleighs picked up passengers for rides around the rural property. A light snow was falling giving everything a fresh coat of white as if nature were tidying up for the arrival of Christmas Day.

They arrived just as another foursome was getting out of a sleigh. The driver, a big man with a ruddy face and a friendly smile, waved them over. "Are you ready for a sleigh ride?" he asked. He rubbed the ears of one of the big draught horses. "Come on over. These guys just love the weather. They're itchin' to give you a nice ride."

"Horses, Mommy!" Sam cried as he and Lily took off running across the snow-covered stone patio and down the few steps to where the sleigh was parked.

Tony and Audrey smiled and followed their children.

"Can we pet them?" Lily breathlessly asked the driver.

"Sure you can. They like to have their ears scratched. They'll give you an extra special ride if you scratch their ears. Let me lift you up so you can reach," The driver said as he picked Lily up to the level of the horse's head.

"Me, too!" shouted Sam. "Me, too!"

"Yes, you too, little guy," the jovial driver said as he set Lily down and picked up Sam.

Tony and Audrey had reached the sleigh by then and Audrey pulled out a camera to take pictures of the children with the horses.

"Ride now!" two-year-old Sam begged as he tried to climb into the sleigh. "We ride now!"

"Are you two ready?" Audrey asked.

"Yes!" they shouted. Both children jumped up and down unable to contain their excitement.

"Why don't you get in the sleigh with the kids and I'll get a picture," Tony suggested.

Audrey handed him the camera. "Sounds great," she said as she climbed into the sleigh.

Tony picked up Sam and handed him up to Audrey, then he lifted up Lily who scampered across the seat and into Audrey's waiting arms. "Everybody smile," he told them just before the flash filled everyone's eyes.

"Climb up there with them," the driver instructed Tony, "and I'll get a picture of the whole family."

Tony turned and gave the driver the camera. As he climbed into the sleigh he wasn't quite sure whether to explain that they weren't really a family or to let it go but at the moment it seemed unimportant to correct him. So he sat down and pulled Lily onto his lap and leaned in close to Audrey so the four of them would fit in the picture.

"Looks great," the driver told them. "Everybody smile." He took the picture and gave the camera back to Tony. "Here's a blanket. Better tuck it around you and snuggle up tight so you don't get cold." Audrey took the blanket and, with Tony's help, got it all tucked around the four of them. Then they settled in for their ride.

The night air was cold and crisp as the horses made their way over the snow covered roads. A full moon lit up the sky and cast warm shadows everywhere. It wasn't long before the quiet night and the motion of the sleigh rocked Sam to sleep. He was curled in Audrey's arms with his head propped against her neck sleeping soundly. Lily rested sleepily against Tony refusing to let herself fall asleep and miss a minute of the ride.

A half an hour later they arrived back at the lodge relaxed and ready to head back to their cabin for a good night's sleep. Tony helped Lily down from the sleigh and then took Sam from Audrey's arms so that she could climb down easily. Once they were all out of the sleigh, Tony thanked the driver and handed him a tip.

"Thank you, sir," the driver said in acknowledgement. "Merry Christmas to you. You have a beautiful family." He touched Sam's head. "He's a handsome boy. And you're a beautiful young lady," he said to Lily. He shook his head and smiled as he looked at Tony and Audrey. "Amazing that you got one so blond and one so dark. They're just darling. Merry Christmas to you all," he said as he turned his attention back to his horses. "Guess you boys need a drink. Let me unhitch you and we'll get some water."

Tony and Audrey turned and started back to their cabin. Sam was now sleeping in Tony's arms having not even stirred when he was transferred from his mother's arms to Tony's. Audrey picked up Lily to carry the tired child the short distance to the cabin. Neither Tony nor Audrey spoke as they walked; a tense silence enveloping the party of four until they reached the door of the cabin.

Tony dug in his pocket for the key. He unlocked the door and held it open for Audrey and Lily. "Okay, time to get these guys in bed," he said softly to Audrey. Then to Lily, "What do you think, Lil? Time for bed?"

"Not yet, Daddy," she yawned. "I'm not tired yet."

"You're not? Then why are you yawning? I think by the time we get your pajamas on you'll be ready to do to sleep. Remember you have to go to sleep so Santa Claus will come," he reminded her.

Lily may not have agreed, but she didn't protest as Audrey set her down on the floor. "Good night, munchkin," Audrey said as she kissed her. "I'll see you in the morning and we'll see what Santa Claus left."

"I'll take Sam," Audrey told Tony. "Come on, big guy. Looks like you're already down for the count."

Tony and Audrey turned and started in opposite directions into their bedrooms to get their children ready for bed. Twenty minutes later Tony emerged and closed the door to the bedroom. Audrey was already finished putting Sam in bed and was arranging a few presents under the Christmas tree.

"Is she asleep?" Audrey asked.

Tony laughed "Her head barely hit the pillow before she fell asleep. The whole time she was telling me that she wasn't tired and would never go to sleep." He leaned into the closet near the door where he had hidden Lily's presents and joined Audrey under the tree to set them down.

Neither was quite sure what happened, but the tension they felt as they walked back to the cabin returned. It filled the air and they both could feel it. They fell silent and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to place the few presents perfectly. Tony finally stopped and turned toward Audrey. "Audrey," he started. "About what the driver said…about us being a family…" He wasn't sure what to say next.

"Don't worry about it, Tony. He didn't realize. I guess to anyone who doesn't know us, we look like a family. It didn't bother me." Audrey went back to rearranging the presents.

Tony touched her arm and turned her toward him. "That's what I mean, Audrey. It didn't bother me either. In fact, I liked it. I liked it that he thought we were a family. Maybe he saw something that we haven't seen. Maybe it's time for us to become a family. We care about each other, Audrey. Lily loves you like a mother and you know that I love Sam like he were my own child. The driver was right. We are a family; it's just time for us to let that happen."

"Tony, this… this isn't right," Audrey stuttered. She stood up and turned away. "Of course I care for you and I love Lily, but… no… I can't. I'm not ready to start again. I don't think I'll ever want to start again. Please, Tony, don't ruin what we've got. Your friendship is so special to me. I can't imagine not having you and Lily in my life, but…," she started to cry. "I'm sorry, Tony, but no," Audrey whispered as she ran toward the room she was sharing with her son.

"Audrey, wait," Tony called quietly. "I'm sorry, Audrey. I didn't mean to upset you." He started to follow her but stopped and let he go into the room and close the door behind her.

Tony turned, his heart heavy, and went into his own bedroom to get ready for bed. It certainly hadn't been his intention to hurt Audrey. It was a half hour before he emerged. He had showered and changed into flannel lounge pants and a tee shirt. He had considered going straight to bed but knew that if he did he wouldn't be able to sleep. He wanted the chance to talk to Audrey first, to apologize and to explain himself and.

Tony opened the bedroom door and entered the living room that was essentially the central hub of the cabin. The three bedroom and bathroom suites were situated around it like spokes from a wheel. A little kitchen and dining area was at the other end for people who were inclined to do their own cooking. The living room was decorated with a tall Christmas tree. It was covered in lights and tinsel and lots of gold and red ornaments. The fireplace was decorated, too, giving the room a warm holiday feel. _At least it felt that way before I made a fool of myself,_ Tony thought.

He sat down dejected on the large chaise in front of the fireplace to brood. He became engrossed in watching the shapes in the fire and didn't hear Audrey enter the room behind him. She crossed the room quietly and walked into the kitchen which was separated from the living room by a breakfast bar.

"I was going to make some hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps," she said. "Would you like some?"

Tony turned, surprised to hear her voice. "That'd be great," he said breathing a silent sigh of relief. If she was making him hot chocolate then she wasn't angry.

Neither spoke again for a few moments while Audrey was in the kitchen. Tony listened to the sounds of the pan on the stove and the clinking of mugs. He liked the sounds. They were the sounds of home and of family. He realized yet again how much he missed having his own family but he wasn't going to jeopardize his relationship with Audrey and press the issue.

"Audrey…about what I said before, I'm sorry. I was out of line," he started.

"No, Tony," Audrey interrupted. "It was _me_ who was out of line. I overreacted and I'm sorry." She finished stirring the schnapps into the hot chocolate and topped each with whipped cream before picking the steaming mugs up carefully and carrying them to the living room.

Tony repositioned himself on the side of the chaise in order to take the mug from her. Audrey stepped in front of him and he tried unsuccessfully to stifle a gasp.

"Can I assume that you don't normally dress that way to sleep alone?" he asked.

Audrey smiled. "No, I usually sleep in flannel pajamas."

"That's a long way from flannel pajamas," Tony commented as he took a long look at Audrey. She was dressed in forest green satin pants and a matching satin and lace camisole that left very little to his imagination. "You look gorgeous," he added in a soft whisper.

"Thank you," she said as she sat down next to him on the chaise. "I was walking past a lingerie store in the mall the other day and these caught my eye. I wasn't really sure at the time why I bought them. I told myself that I just wanted to feel pretty again. After Jack died, I got rid of all of my lingerie. I couldn't imagine wearing them for anyone else ever again and I wasn't going to wear them to sleep alone. Now I understand that subconsciously _this _is exactly why I bought them. _This_ is what I wanted to happen. My father's been trying to tell me for months that we should get together and I've been telling him that he's crazy. Now I know that he was right."

"I think your dad and my dad were in collusion," Tony laughed. "And they set us up perfectly."

"Do you really think they set us up?"

"Absolutely! For the last year Dad and Lily and I had been planning to stay home for Christmas. Then in early November, Dad announces that he wants to go to Natalie's for Christmas. He said the cold was bothering his arthritis and he wanted a couple of weeks in San Diego. At Thanksgiving, your father invites us to come up here. Now your dad suddenly has a private party to go to on Christmas Eve and we're left alone. I wonder if he paid off the driver to tell us we were a nice family."

Audrey and Tony were both laughing now. "I guess you're right," Audrey agreed with him. "They played us like a piano."

"Maybe they did," Tony said, his tone becoming more serious, "but I think they were right, Audrey. We need each other more than either of us realized. Subconsciously you and I knew it, too. We just didn't want to acknowledge it, but I'm ready to acknowledge it now." With that Tony leaned in toward Audrey and kissed her gently. She returned the kiss. Those kisses were followed my more gentle, almost shy kisses, but as time passed, Tony and Audrey found themselves curled together on the chaise kissing passionately.

They kissed for a long time both allowing feelings that had been buried for years to surface again. Tony listened as a soft, breathy moan slipped from Audrey's throat as he kissed her neck. He liked the effect he was having on her, but he also knew that their children were not very far away.

"I think we better put the brakes on this before the kids wake up and find Mommy doing more than just kissing Santa Claus," he whispered.

"I think you're right. Maybe we can arrange to get away by ourselves for a weekend soon."

"That sounds like a good idea," Tony said as he pulled Audrey into his arms and covered them with a blanket from the sofa. "Maybe we could just spend tonight here together," he suggested.

"That sounds wonderful," Audrey agreed as she settled back into his arms and gazed into the fireplace. She suddenly felt warm and loved and happier than she had been since Jack was killed. "Merry Christmas, Tony. I love you."

"Merry Christmas," he returned as he pressed a kiss on her forehead for emphasis. "I love you, too."

_Yea!! Finally finished. Now I remember why I took some time off from writing. I love it, but it's a lot of work and a big time investment. I hope you enjoyed the story and aren't too mad at me for the ending. Please, please, please review. If you are looking for something else to read, I've got a bunch of other stories out there that are gathering cyberdust and waiting for someone to read and review them. Hope you'll take the time and do that. Thanks again for reading and reviewing. Hope I'll be inspired to write something again when season 6 starts in less that three weeks!!!_


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